Deadspin Finally Updates Story About Child Chiefs Fan In 'Blackface' Amid Legal Threat

Deadspin finally updated its story that originally falsely accused a young Chiefs fan of wearing blackface at an NFL event.

Sometime Thursday, the outlet added an editor’s note to Carron J. Phillips' hit piece that reads as follows:

On Nov. 27, Deadspin published an opinion piece criticizing the NFL for allowing a young fan to attend the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 26 wearing a traditional Native American headdress and, based upon the available photo, what appeared to be black face paint.
Unfortunately the article drew attention to the fan, though our intended focus was on the NFL and its checkered history on race, an issue which our writer has covered extensively for Deadspin. Three years ago, the Chiefs banned fans from wearing headdresses in Arrowhead Stadium, as well as face painting that “appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.” The story’s intended focus was the NFL and its failure to extend those rules to the entire league.
We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan. 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.

In addition, the editor replaced the deceptive cover photo showing only one side of the kid's face -- the side painted black -- with a photo of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The original cover:

The new cover:

The article also removed the opening line that said the fan "hated black people and Native Americans."

The updates come as the young fan's parents, Shannon and Raul Armenta, threatened legal action against Deadspin and Phillips.

This week, the family hired Clare Locke LLP to demand a retraction with the following letter:

“These Articles, posts on X, and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately.

“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.”

The lawsuit obviously frightened Deadspin and Phillips. They had several chances to correct the article before the family had to take legal action but didn't.

Instead, Phillips doubled down on his accusation and the outlet stood by him. His colleague, Julie DiCaro, defended his lie and called OutKick "sexist" for asking for comment.

Moreover, the full photo of the fan's face, showing him wearing both red and black face paint, was available at the time Deadspin posted the original article.

And the photo went viral hours later:

Yet Deadspin ignored that photo.

So, the line in the editor's note that reads "based upon the available photo, what appeared to be black face paint" is inaccurate.

Deadspin and Carron Phillips willfully smeared a 9-year-old kid. They defamed him. And they refused to correct the story.

Thus, the kid's family had to take legal action. And only then did Deadspin take action.