Young Chiefs Fan’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Deadspin to Move Forward

A Delaware judge ruled Monday that the Armenta family’s lawsuit against Deadspin for accusing their son of wearing “blackface” at a Chiefs game last year can proceed.

In 2023, Deadspin writer Carron Phillips wrote an article using an image of nine-year-old Holden Armenta sporting black and red Kansas City Chiefs face paint at a game, showing only the black half of his face. Phillips accused Holden of finding a way to “hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time” and accused his parents of teaching him “hatred.”

Holden’s parents Raul Jr. and Shannon later filed a lawsuit in February {snip}

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg denied Deadspin’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, agreeing that the blog posted “provable false assertions” as facts rather than opinion.

“Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims,” the judge wrote.

“Having reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing [Holden] of wearing black face and Native headdress ‘to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,’ and that he was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable false assertions of fact and are therefore actionable,” Lugg added.

{snip}