The family of a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan whom Deadspin accused of being racist for wearing a Native American headdress and painting his face half black and half red is threatening to sue the publisher and reporter.
Holden Armenta’s parents, Shannon and Raul, have hired Clare Locke LLP to demand that the sports news site and senior writer Carron Phillips issue a retraction for his story headlined “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.”
They also threatened further legal action against the reporter, Deadspin, publisher G/O Media and Great Hill Partners in a letter obtained by NewsNation.
“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.”
The sports news site has come under fire for Phillips’ article, which featured a photo of Holden standing sideways — suggesting that he was wearing blackface with no mention of the red side.
Phillips, a former New York Daily News reporter, also slammed Holden’s Native American headdress and his “Tomahawk Chop” gesture, claiming the boy “found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time.”
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once,” Phillips wrote in the article, which has since been tagged with a community note on X branding it “purposely deceiving.”
“This is what happens when you ban books, stand against Critical Race Theory, and try to erase centuries of hate,” he wrote. “You give future generations the ammunition they need to evolve and recreate racism better than before.”
The boy’s outraged mother, Shannon Armenta, shared numerous images of her son getting a warm reception at the game — while suggesting Deadspin focused on a photo that hid the fact that half her son’s face was painted red.
“This has nothing to do with the NFL,” she wrote, suggesting the photo was picked purely “to create division”
“He is Native American — just stop already,” she wrote of her son.
In fact, Holden’s grandfather, Raul Armenta, sits on the board of the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez, California, according to the Post Millennial.
But Phillips reportedly doubled down on his claim in a since-deleted X post.
“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,” he wrote in the post, according to the Post Millennial.
“Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco [de Mayo].”
Speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters, Holden said “it’s a little scary” that he has been labeled a racist for his ensemble at the Chiefs game.
His father added: “It’s been a lot. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of days. I was mad, upset for him. I’m mad that he’s upset.
“He’s pretty devastated. I mean, he’s seen the videos and everything posted,” Raul said.
“It was his dream to get on the Jumbotron. And I’ve had family and friends call and [say], ‘Oh, we saw you on Sunday night football.’ So, he’s excited. But then everything else came up,” the father added.
When asked by Watters if he wants an apology from Phillips, Raul said, “It’s a little too late for that.”
“The damage is already done. It’s, you know, worldwide. Now there’s comments all over, there’s, you know, disrespect towards Native Americans and towards my family. We never in any way, shape or form meant to disrespect any Native Americans or any tribes,” he said.
“It’s a 9-year-old boy supporting his team,” Raul added.
The Post has reached out to Deadspin and G/O Media for comment.