In a significant ruling on Monday, a Delaware judge decreed that the lawsuit filed by the Armenta family against sports blog Deadspin can move forward.
The lawsuit was initiated in response to Deadspin's accusation that the Armenta's son, Holden, was wearing "blackface" at a Kansas City Chiefs game in 2023.
According to Fox News, the controversy began when Deadspin writer Carron Phillips published an article featuring an image of nine-year-old Holden Armenta. The image showed the young boy with his face painted in the Chiefs' colors, black and red, but only the black half of his face was visible. Phillips used this image to accuse Holden of finding a way to simultaneously "hate Black people and the Native Americans," and further alleged that his parents had taught him this "hatred."
Holden's parents, Raul Jr. and Shannon Armenta, responded by filing a lawsuit in February, accusing Deadspin of maliciously attacking their son. They claimed that the sports blog had selectively posted only one half of Holden's face and falsely accused them of racism.
Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg, in his ruling on Monday, rejected Deadspin's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. He concurred with the Armenta family's claim that the blog had posted "provable false assertions" as facts rather than opinions.
Judge Lugg wrote, "Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFLs diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims." He further added, "Deadspins 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."
The judge also dismissed Deadspin's argument that the case should have been filed in the Armenta familys home state of California, not Delaware, where Deadspins parent company G/O Media is located. Interestingly, G/O Media sold Deadspin to Lineup Publishing a month after the lawsuit was filed. A representative from G/O Media declined to comment on the matter.
Despite the controversy, Deadspin did not retract the original article. Instead, an editors note was added to address the issue. The note stated, "We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family. 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 article's headline was also altered from "The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress" to "The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands."
Phillips initially stood by his accusations in a since-deleted post, stating, "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. Y'all are the ones who hate [M]exican but wear sombreros on cinco [de Mayo]."
This case underscores the importance of responsible journalism and the potential consequences of making unfounded accusations. The Armenta family's lawsuit against Deadspin is a reminder that the line between free speech and defamation can be thin, and crossing it can lead to serious legal repercussions.
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