Parents of young Kansas City Chiefs fan who wore headdress threaten legal action against outlet
Asher Notheis
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The parents of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan who was accused of racism by an online outlet are now seeking legal action, asking for a retraction of the initial story and a published apology.
In late November, Deadspin published a story on Holden Armenta at a Kansas City Chiefs game, accusing him of racism against Native Americans and black people for wearing face paint and a Native American headdress. The boy’s parents, Bubba and Shannon Armenta, have now hired Clare Locke LLP to demand a retraction of the story and also threatened additional legal action against the story’s author, Deadspin, and the outlet’s parent companies, G/O Media and Great Hill Partners, according to a letter.
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“These articles, posts on X, and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately,” the letter read. “It is not enough to quietly remove a tweet from X or disable the article from Deadspin’s website. You must publish your retractions and issue an apology to my clients with the same prominence and fanfare with which you defamed them.”
Clare Locke LLP is the same firm that helped Dominion Voting Systems win a $787.5 million settlement against Fox News, which took place in April.
The online outlet included a photo showing one side of the boy’s face covered in black face paint, accusing him of blackface at a recent Kansas City Chiefs game — however, other photos of the boy shared online showed he also had the other side of his face covered in red face paint, with the red and black face paint meant to support the Chiefs. The outlet also accused the boy of racism against Native Americans over the headdress he was wearing, though the boy’s mother revealed online that he is of Native American descent.
The parents hiring a law firm comes a few days after the boy’s father said it was “a little too late” to receive an apology from the outlet, adding that the damage caused by the story “is already done.” He also said that the last few days since the story’s publishing had been “pretty crazy” for the family.
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The story that attacked the young Kansas City Chiefs fan was widely mocked online for pushing a false narrative, with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk calling the author of the story “an unapologetic racist and a deceiver.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1729510775746650224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1729510775746650224%7Ctwgr%5E97d851abffe78c9439c8d6fda8d342928cd663b5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Ffather-young-kansas-city-chiefs-fan-late-apology
As of Monday morning, Deadspin’s story against the young fan remains online.