A nine-year-old Kansas City Chief's fan who was accused by Deadspin of racism after he wore the team's colors on his face and a Native American headdress has appeared at the Super Bowl.
Holden Armenta's family launched a lawsuit against Deadspin after one of its reporters accused the boy of wearing 'blackface' and criticized his wearing of a Native American headdress to a Chiefs game in November.
Armenta, from Oklahoma, was seen attending the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Sunday, again wearing a feathered headdress and red, white and yellow face paint.
Video footage posted to social media showed the child, who has Native American heritage, dancing and laughing with his family, ahead of the game.
In November Deadspin's reporter Carron J. Phillips wrote an article titled 'the NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress' with a picture of Armenta's face from the side painted black.
Holden Armenta, 9, from Oklahoma , was seen attending the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Sunday, again wearing a feathered headress and red, white and yellow face paint
Armenta was seen attending the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Sunday, again wearing a feathered headress and red, white and yellow face paint
The family of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of blackface by a Deadspin reporter has filed a lawsuit against the sports outlet
In the piece Phillips wrote that Armenta had 'found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time' with his face paint at the game.
Following the article, fans were quick to point out that Armenta actually had the other half of his face painted red too and was merely wearing Kansas City's colors, before the youngster's family revealed they are also Native Americans themselves.The Armentas are now suing Deadspin for defamation after their son was branded racist by Phillips. 'The Article falsely alleged that H.A. had 'found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time,'' the lawsuit states. The article 'alleged that H.A.'s parents, Shannon and Raul, 'taught' H.A. 'racism and hate' at home' according to the suit. 'It intentionally painted a picture of the Armenta Family as anti-Black, anti-Native American bigots who proudly engaged in the worst kind of racist conduct motivated by their family's hatred for Black and Native Americans,' it continued.The family is seeking 'all costs, disbursements, fees, and interest as authorized by law' over the article they claim 'maliciously and wantonly attacked a nine-year-old boy and his parents for Phillips' own race-drenched political agenda.'
The family also claim to have received a number of abusive messages in the wake of the story.
Holden Armenta, 9, was captured by CBS Sports cameras wearing team colors across his entire face as well as a Native American headdress at a Chiefs game
Deadspin issued a half-hearted apology to the Armentas after receiving significant backlash over the story
The family is seeking 'all costs, disbursements, fees, and interest as authorized by law' over the article
Back in December, Deadspin issued a half-hearted apology to the Armentas after receiving significant backlash over the story.
'We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan,' the note said.
'To that end, our story was updated on Dec. 7 to remove any photos, tweets, links, or otherwise identifying information about the fan.
'We have also revised the headline to better reflect the substance of the story' the outlet added.
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