The family of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan, who was accused of wearing blackface by a Deadspin reporter, has filed a lawsuit against the sports outlet.
During the Chiefs' game against the Las Vegas Raiders back in November, 9-year-old Holden Armenta was captured by CBS Sports cameras wearing team colors across his entire face, along with a Native American headdress.
However, when he painted his face black and red, the cameras initially only captured the black half of Armenta's face, which led to accusations of blackface from Deadspin's Carron J. Phillips.
Phillips later wrote in a story, titled 'the NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress', that Armenta had 'found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time' with his face paint at the game.
Following the article, fans pointed out that Armenta actually had the other half of his face painted red too and was merely wearing Kansas City's colors, before the youngster's family revealed they are also Native Americans themselves.
Just over two months after the incident, the Armentas are suing Deadspin for defamation after their son was branded racist by Phillips.
'The Article falsely alleged that H.A. had "found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time,"' the lawsuit says.
The family is also requesting reimbursement for all legal expenses, including costs, fees, and interest as allowed by law, because they claim that an article maliciously targeted a nine-year-old boy and his parents for Phillips' own racially charged political agenda.
They also report receiving abusive messages following the story, and they accuse Phillips of frequently emphasizing racial narratives in his reporting.
In December, Deadspin issued a somewhat insincere apology to the Armentas after facing criticism over the story. They claimed Phillips' piece was meant to criticize the NFL for its controversial history regarding race.
"We regret any implication that we were attacking the fan," the statement read. "As a result, our story was updated on Dec. 7 to remove all photos, tweets, links, or other identifying information about the fan. We have also revised the headline to more accurately reflect the content of the story."
A week before that backtracking statement came, however, Armentas' father had already insisted it was too late for apologies.
Asked if he would like an apology from Phillips, Bubba, the boy's dad, said on Fox News: 'You know, I don't even know what to think about that.
"The harm has been done, and it's widespread... now there are comments everywhere, showing disrespect towards Native Americans and my family. We never intended to disrespect any Native Americans or tribes in any way."
Holden was also asked how he was feeling about the reaction to his face paint.
"It's okay because a lot of the kids at school are getting excited," he said. "But it's starting to make me a little nervous - because if they go too far, it's a little scary."