It couldn’t have happened to a better publication.
On Tuesday, the folks behind Deadspin — the far-left media outlet known for using virtually every sports story as a springboard to advance a woke narrative — had their request to dismiss a defamation suit rejected by a Delaware judge, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The ruling means the owners of the publication are that much closer to going to trial or being forced to settle with the family of a 9-year-old boy they falsely accused of being doubly racist in a 2023 story.
“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,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg said, rejecting the publication’s claims that it was an opinion piece and thus protected from a defamation action.
“Having reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing [the 9-year-old] 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.”
In his ruling, the judge also dismissed the defendants’ claim that the suit should have been filed where the child’s parents live, in California, rather than in Delaware, where Deadspin’s former parent company is located.
The suit stems from a November 2023 article written by Carron J. Phillips, based off of a single shot on social media, taken from the CBS broadcast, which appeared to show the young fan in blackface and Native American headdress at a Kansas City Chiefs-Las Vegas Raiders game.
this chiefs fan is totally having a normal one pic.twitter.com/cYEkIkAtPa
— charles (“you look good” – andy reid) mcdonald (@FourVerts) November 26, 2023
Do you think Deadspin defamed the young fan?
“The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” the initial headline read. The subheadline: They’re doubling up on the racism. Are you going to say anything, [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell?”
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate black people and the Native Americans at the same time,” Phillips wrote in the initial piece. “This is what happens when you ban books, stand against Critical Race Theory, and try to erase centuries of hate.” He also accused the boy’s parents of indoctrinating him into hate.
This is why you fact-check these hot-takes before you rush them into publication: Because, unfortunately, it turns out that the boy — 9-year-old Holden Armenta, referred to in the suit as “H.A.” because he’s a minor — had the other side of his face painted red and was merely repping the colors of his team. To make things worse, it turns out that Armenta and his father are part of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, so he was also Native American. Whoops. Slight error in judgment there!
Why is @Deadspin @carronJphillips trying to ruin this little kid’s life? They’re accusing him of blackface but conveniently left out his full face which was painted for the game https://t.co/kFfgAL4aDH pic.twitter.com/750u5sfETE
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 28, 2023
This would normally be time for a retraction, but Deadspin dug in with numerous “updates” instead of a full-on retraction and mea culpa. One of the updates made this darkly, unintentionally hilarious statement: “We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family.”
Yes, sorry that you read our fact-challenged attack on this child and his family as a fact-challenged attack on the child and his family. Please do not suggest that we did that, because we regret it. Not the article, mind you, which hasn’t even been fully retracted — although enough surgery has been done on it to effectively neuter it. But don’t suggest we were attacking a 9-year-old as a racist when he wasn’t, because we would regret that suggestion. If you can find a more stoat-like non-apology apology than that,
Phillips was even more insufferable than Deadspin management, if you can somehow believe that; he took to social media to say not only does this make things worse but that everyone involved in criticizing him was a racist, too.
“For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse,” Phillips wrote on social media platform X. “Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco [de Mayo].”
The suit noted the distress that Phillips’ reportage caused Holden and his parents, Raul Armenta Jr. and Shannon Armenta.
“The Armentas started receiving hateful messages and death threats, with one person threatening to kill Holden ‘with a wood chipper,’ according to the lawsuit. The Armentas say they made repeated demands for Deadspin to retract the article and apologize. In response, Deadspin instead republished an edited version that retained the accusations of racism and continued to display Holden’s picture,” the AP reported.
“Unsatisfied with Deadspin’s updates instead of a formal apology and retraction, the Armentas sued for defamation.”
“Deadspin and Carron Phillips have never shown a morsel of remorse for using a 9-year-old boy as their political football,” said Elizabeth Locke, an attorney representing the Armentas.
“The Armenta family is looking forward to taking depositions and presenting this case to a jury at trial.”
As for Deadspin, the publication was sold off by G/O Media — previously known as Gizmodo Media Group — to a European firm named Lineup Publishing in March, leading to the publication’s entire staff getting the axe.
G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller told employees in a memo that the new owners would “instead build a new team more in line with their editorial vision for the brand,” Axios reported.
As for Phillips, his X account is set to private, an unusual thing for a journalist. He’s now been writing sporadically for African-American-centric publication Ebony, mostly about politics — although as of Wednesday, his most recent article published there was posted back in August. With his track record, my best guess is he’ll eventually wind up in Boeing’s PR department. It just feels like a natural fit.
Again: This all couldn’t happen to a better bunch of people. Can’t wait for the trial.
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