A writer for a crappy sports website called Deadspin found himself at the center of a national scandal after he attacked a child football fan by falsely claiming the white kid was wearing “black face.”
“The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” reads a Deadspin post on X alongside a photo showing only one side of the fan’s face.
The social media site’s Community Notes feature lets viewers know, “The picture on the article is misleading. Other pictures of the child in question show that the other half of his face is painted red, black and red being the team’s colors.”
The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress https://t.co/9eGBsA8nca
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) November 27, 2023
In the article, author Carron J. Phillips claimed Chiefs fans are “doubling up on the racism” of wearing Native American gear and that the child “found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time.”
Upon being called out on social media, Phillips actually doubled down on the child’s alleged racism despite learning the other side of the kid’s face was painted red!
The “journalist” called people upset by his mischaracterization of the boy “idiots” and claimed the fact the kid’s face was half red “makes it even worse” before oddly asserting white people “hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco [de Mayo].”
“For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse. Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco,” he wrote.
For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse.
Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco.@Deadspinhttps://t.co/MfoG8vArWs pic.twitter.com/oQTxhUeA00
— Carron J. Phillips (@carronJphillips) November 27, 2023
Posting an image of the child’s full face, popular pedophile catcher Alex Rosen asked, “Is this racist?”
Is this racist? pic.twitter.com/DvcF8wiELc
— Alex Rosen (@iFightForKids) November 28, 2023
Top tier X account Libs of TikTok wrote, “Shame on you trying to ruin a young child’s life. Hope he sues you for defamation.”
Shame on you trying to ruin a young child’s life. Hope he sues you for defamation. https://t.co/XAyenORfQ6
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 28, 2023
The internet’s voiceover king Steve Inman also suggested Phillips be “sued into oblivion.”
Race baiting reporter @carronJphillips writes a hit piece claiming a kid is wearing black face at a Chiefs game. Get ready to get sued into Oblivion. pic.twitter.com/t94JHPdjr7
— Steve Inman (@SteveInmanUIC) November 27, 2023
Phillips limited who can comment on his X posts and is blocking people criticizing his article.
Hahaha pic.twitter.com/auROmO0lng
— Steve Inman (@SteveInmanUIC) November 28, 2023
Clown. @carronJphillips pic.twitter.com/fR7fFGEMZi
— Alex Rosen (@iFightForKids) November 28, 2023
One X user said that as a Native American, they “fully condone” the fan’s attire and see it as honoring his culture, not appropriation.
As a American Native, I fully condone this fan’s actions. This is not cultural appropriation for harm, but honoring by motif. If we keep removing these references we will have eventually removed all memory. The Hunt family has long honored us. GO CHIEFS!
— KC IRONFAN (@KCIronFan) November 28, 2023
Wrong Speak Publishing News Editor Haley Kennington suggested Americans be upset with “men in women’s face,” or transgender people, instead of the young sports fan.
Could we maybe just start with all the men in “women’s face” before we go attacking a kid who’s simply a Chiefs fan?
#1 it’s a kid, full stop.
#2 it’s clearly red & black, Chiefs colors
#3 how desperate for a story do you need to be to invent something so easily debunked? https://t.co/Re7izj1hmU— Haley Kennington (@ladykennington) November 28, 2023
Even X owner Elon Musk commented on the situation, declaring another victory for Community Notes.
And another @CommunityNotes win exposing deception pic.twitter.com/ul5jmjbgRW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2023
In an unsurprising find, Libs of TikTok also pointed out an old racist Tweet by Phillips where he said it was “concerning” to see so many white people during his visit to Flint, Michigan.
Turns out not only is @carronJphillips trying to destroy a little kid’s life with false accusations of blackface, he’s actually racist himself. They always accuse others of what they themselves are doing. pic.twitter.com/cm0iNf3qln
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 28, 2023
The leftist writer’s race-baiting piece backfired and turned the boy into somewhat of a folk hero with artwork and memes floating around the internet.
Stumbled upon this story and was honestly shocked. Poor kid got unfairly slammed by Deadspin for showing his Chiefs pride – they called it ‘black face’. He’s just 5!
To show support, I made this image of him as a little hero. Don’t believe everything you read. ? pic.twitter.com/eMnPLkaMfh
— Dr. Clown, PhD (@CW_Insider) November 28, 2023