Weeks after leftist sports media outlet Deadspin falsely accused a child at a Kansas City Chiefs game of being decked out in “blackface,” the company was sold on Monday and all of its staff received their walking papers.
The situation only worsened when the blog refused to admit its mistake in accusing the nine-year-old boy of racism.
Axios ignored the smearing of the child with charges of racism as it reported that company owner G/O Media sold the flailing outfit to Europe’s Lineup Publishing.
G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller cited investors as the reason for the sale. The outlet further reported that every existing employee of Deadspin lost their job due to the transaction.
Spanfeller confirmed the axing of the staff by declaring that none would go with the site as it changed hands. He said the new owners seek to “instead build a new team more in line with their editorial vision for the brand.”
Crash and burn! @Deadspin https://t.co/F2Y9U939nm #Deadspin #LayOffs #DeadspinLayoffs pic.twitter.com/WmNrelqAGL
— ＜spe /＞ (@s_p_enright) March 11, 2024
Deadspin is well known in media circles for largely ignoring genuine sports news in favor of stirring the racism pot. Its writers regularly sought a negative spin on anything related to sports and race and found prejudice lurking under every rock.
Eleven total staffers, based in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, were handed their pink slips.
Among those dusting off his resume is senior writer Carron Phillips. It was his inflammatory column late last year that skewered nine-year-old Holden Armenta for supposedly wearing blackface and exhibiting racism at an NFL game.
The misleading headline read, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.”
Phillips incredibly claimed the child “found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time.”
But it was quickly revealed that Deadspin insidiously showed only half of the boy’s face, and the other side was painted red — a fine display of Chiefs colors.
Further humiliating the now-defunct outlet was the revelation that young Holden had Native American roots. His grandfather, Raul Armenta, serves on the board of the Chumash Tribe in California.
A whirlwind of criticism and legal threats was unleashed, and Deadspin meekly attempted to backtrack. An editor’s note was added to the writing declaring the blog “regret[s] any suggestion that we were attacking” the young football fan.
A defamation lawsuit seeking unspecified damages was filed by the Armenta family against Deadspin last month.
