Holden (R) with his father Bubba, being interviewed
on television following the slander. Click for video.

Bring a gun to a knife fight: A fundraiser has been started to send 9-year-old KC Chiefs fan, Holden Armenta, to the Super Bowl, in defiant response to the ugly effort by one racist reporter, Carron Phillips, and his media outlet, Deadspin, to slander the boy as a bigot because he attended a game wearing facepaint with the red and black colors of the Chiefs.

Phillips had unjustly accused the child of wearing blackface, and Deadspin helped Phillips push this lie by printing a picture that only showed the black side of Armenta’s face. A head-on shot showed his facepaint had nothing to do with blackface, but was a typical example of what many football fans do, paint their faces with the colors of their team. The right side of the boy’s face was painted black, the left side red.

What made the slander even more egregious is that Holden is an American Indian, with his grandfather, Raul Armenta, on the board of the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez, California.

The backlash, including a threat by the parents to sue, was so harsh that Deadspin quickly edited Phillips’ story, removing the picture of the boy, revising the headline, and adding an editor’s note that claimed it never intended to slander him. No one believes that last claim, but the changes eliminated the printed slander against Armenta, which was likely the goal of the parents’ legal threat. As noted by Holden’s father Bubba during a television interview,

“He’s pretty devastated. I mean, he’s seen the videos and everything posted,” Raul said. “It was his dream to get on the Jumbotron. And I’ve had family and friends call and [say], ‘Oh, we saw you on Sunday night football.’ So, he’s excited. But then everything else came up,” the father added.

When asked by Watters if he wants an apology from Phillips, Raul said, “It’s a little too late for that. … The damage is already done. It’s, you know, worldwide. Now there’s comments all over, there’s, you know, disrespect towards Native Americans and towards my family. We never in any way, shape or form meant to disrespect any Native Americans or any tribes,” he said.

“It’s a 9-year-old boy supporting his team,” Raul added. [emphasis mine]

For this reporter to be so focused on race that he felt it was okay to slander a little boy for cheering enthusiastically for his team tells us how low these race hustlers are.

Now two podcasters have set up a fundraiser to send Holden to the Super Bowl next week to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024.

The financial goal of this fundraiser, launched on GiveSendGo, is set at $22,000. As of Monday afternoon, the fundraiser has raised almost $6,700.

In the chance this fundraiser does not meet its financial goal, the two hosts told the Washington Examiner that they plan to use the money to buy Armenta signed sports jerseys of Kansas City Chiefs icons Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, which will be presented to Armenta at a Super Bowl watch party held close to the big game. Smith and Maurice said they are “very Christian” and want to make sure they are “good stewards” of the money given to this fundraiser.

The GiveSendGo fundraiser can be found here.