Website loses bid to throw out defamation lawsuit

Back in February, a young Kansas City Chiefs fan and his family filed a defamation lawsuit against Deadspin’s former parent company, G/O Media, after the online outlet published an article accusing the 9-year-old boy of racism after a CBS broadcast showed him wearing a headdress and face paint.

Eight months later, the legal battle remains ongoing, with a judge now rejecting G/O Media’s argument that the article was opinion and thus not liable for defamation in a now-failed attempt to get the suit thrown out.

“Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg wrote, according to the Associated Press .

“Having reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing H.A. of wearing black face and Native headdress ‘to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,’ and that he was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable false assertions of fact and are therefore actionable,” the judge added.

Lugg also denied G/O Media’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that it should have been filed in California, where the plaintiffs live, as opposed to Delaware, where Deadspin’s former parent company, G/O Media, is incorporated.

The entire ordeal dates back to last November, when CBS cameras showed 9-year-old Holden Armenta in a headdress and face paint during a game between the Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders. Deadspin’s Carron J. Phillips subsequently published an article titled “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” which included a picture of the fan in which you could only see one side of his face, which was painted black (the other side was painted red). The article also stated that the boy had “found a way to hate black people and the Native American at the same time” while suggesting that he had been taught “hatred” by his parents.

The article drew immediate backlash, especially from conservative figures, with Ted Cruz and Elon Musk among those weighing in. Eleven days after its original posting, the article’s headline was adjusted to “The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands (UPDATED)” with a picture of Goodell replacing the previous one of Armenta and the following editor’s note added to the article on Dec. 8:

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.

Deadspin’s efforts, however, proved to be too little too late, with the Armenta family filing its lawsuit against G/O Media two months later. In its lawsuit, the Armenta family says it “repeatedly wrote to Deadspin demanding that it retract the Article and apologize,” which the website failed to do, adding that “Deadspin’s lawyers threatened the Armenta family with counter-legal action should Raul and Shannon attempt to hold Phillips and Deadspin accountable for their false and defamatory Article.”

In March, G/O Media sold Deadspin to a company called Lineup Publishing . None of the site’s staff was retained in the sale.

[ Associated Press ]

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