Hey Deadspin, leave those kids alone
Zachary Faria
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Nothing encapsulates the current state of “journalism” quite like attacking a child in order to attack a football team as racist and apparently getting your facts wrong in the process.
Such is the story of Deadspin, the Gawker sports media spinoff where journalism goes to die. Carron Phillips used the site to accuse a child at a Kansas City Chiefs game of being a racist for wearing blackface and a Native American headdress, and then said the NFL must bring down its multibillion-dollar might on the young fan.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE MUST BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL
There are just a few small problems with this story, aside from the demented notion held by an adult that a massive corporation should condemn a child. For one, the young fan wasn’t wearing blackface. Half of his face was painted red (the Chiefs’ primary color), and the other half black (to match his undershirt). That’s strike one.
More hilariously, the young fan is apparently of Native American descent himself. His grandfather sits on the board of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, which is “the only federally recognized Chumash tribe in the nation.” A false accusation of cultural appropriation for the fan wearing a headdress? That’s strike two.
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Of course, this was never about the young fan. Phillips used his piece to whine that the league hasn’t forced the Kansas City Chiefs to change their name. Accusing a Native American child of being a hate-filled racist so you can erase Native Americans from sports entirely? Yeah, that’s strike three.
Life would be a better place if “journalists” let fans, especially young fans, enjoy sports without projecting their racial obsession onto them. It would also be better if sports media figures actually liked sports, rather than liked using sports to spew their racial ideology. On the bright side, we know that no name is more appropriate for outlets that think like this than Deadspin.