CBS
After about two weeks of back and forth in the media, the website Deadspin has finally walked back its story criticizing a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan and accusing him of being racist for wearing a headdress at a game.
In case by some miracle you missed it, the kid, Holden Armenta, was accused by Deadspin of being racist after he was shown on CBS during the Chiefs game on Nov. 26.
Holden’s mother Shannon and his his dad Bubba Armenta both went viral for defending their son.
In their defense, it was revealed that Holden’s grandfather, Raul Armenta, is a Business Committee Member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
Bubba spoke to Fox News host Jesse Waters about the situation.
Holden’s parents then shared a legal letter they wrote along with their attorneys that they sent to Deadspin outlining their demands.
“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 threat of legal action must have worked because on Friday Deadspin issued a statement in the form of an update to the original story.
“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,” the statement reads.
“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.”
So, does that finally put an end to the story?
I don’t see the word “sorry” in there anywhere, so who knows?