(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Shannon Armenta, the mother of a young boy falsely accused of wearing blackface, has strongly condemned Deadspin, one of the outlets at the forefront of these allegations.
The incident occurred at a Kansas City Chiefs game, where the boy faced disturbing social-media attacks due to a partially captured photo showing his face painted in red and black—a homage to the football team.
Deadspin already received severe criticism online for it’s dishonest representation of Holden Armenta, which showed only the black side of his face, eliciting a community note on Twitter, as well as widespread backlash.
In an additional blow to the leftist outlet, Shannon Armenta revealed that her son was not culturally appropriating Native American items, such as a traditional headdress, since the boy has Native American heritage.
“This has nothing to do with the NFL,” Armenta said on Facebook, dismissing Deadspin’s fake report. She highlighted that CBS, which also covered the child’s painted face, presented different angles demonstrating his tribute to the team.
“He is Native American – just stop already,” she added, directing her plea to the outlet.
The Armenta family went viral after Deadspin’s senior writer, Carron Phillips, penned an article on Nov. 27 bluntly accusing the child of wearing blackface. Notably, Phillips failed to mention in the piece that the child also had red paint on his face.
“The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” the article’s headline read, implying that the headdress worn by the child was offensive to Native Americans.
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time,” Phillips declared.
JUST IN: The young boy who was labeled as wearing ‘blackface’ by Deadspin is Holden Armenta.
His mother, Shannon Armenta confirmed that her son was the one at the middle of the controversy on her Facebook page.
It gets even better: Chiefs players saw Holden during the game and… pic.twitter.com/jdIDhcul3Z
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 29, 2023
“Despite their age, who taught that person that what they were wearing was appropriate?” the author questioned, singling out the child. Phillips went as far as to claim that the banning of “Critical Race Theory” attributed to the non-existent blackface.
Critics on Twitter swiftly rebuked the article for disregarding the fact that the child did not wear blackface; rather, he painted his face in the team’s colors.
The Post Millennial noted that the child’s grandfather, Raul Armenta, serves on the board of the Chumash Tribe in California.
“He looks forward to continuing the legacy of building a solid economic foundation for future generations of the Chumash tribe,” the site stated.
As of Wednesday, Deadspin had neither updated nor removed the article despite the emergence of new information.
