Deadspin Tries to Weasel Out of a Lawsuit From That 9 Year Old Chiefs Fan's Family With a Halfassed 'Editor's Note.' And No Apology.

The Washington Post. Getty Images.

As the late, great Vincent Vega (RIP) put it, "Jules, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he's wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings? Have you ever heard that?" He said this to his best work friend after apologizing for letting his hand cannon go off in Marvin's face, forcing Jules to have to pick up itty-bitty pieces of skull out of the back seat of his car. So Vince was truly in need of some forgiveness. 

But not everyone has the moral fiber of a hit man. Some need more persuasion in order to admit they've wronged someone. Even if their victim wasn't, say, holding out on a ruthless crime boss. But was instead merely an innocent child guilty of nothing more than loving his football team, his culture, and his family. Thereby unwittingly becoming a useful tool for some failed website trying to score Social Justice points in a desperate search for relevance. In those situations, sometimes you have no choice but to threaten legal action.

It was four days ago that the family of the 9 year old Native American lad who was smeared by Deadspin hired the services of a legal team. Who slowly pulled the .44 Magnum of justice out of their holster and took aim:

And this is the best Deadspin could bring themselves to do. They've updated the original story. First by replacing this intentionally dishonest thumbnail photo:

… with a generic one of Roger Goodell. Then added the following editor's note. See if you can spot the part where they:

A) Admit they were in the wrong, or 

B) Apologize to the Armenta family for calling their 4th grader a racist:

On Nov. 27, Deadspin published an opinion piece criticizing the NFL for allowing a young fan to attend the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 26 wearing a traditional Native American headdress and, based upon the available photo, what appeared to be black face paint.

Unfortunately the article drew attention to the fan, though our intended focus was on the NFL and its checkered history on race, an issue which our writer has covered extensively for Deadspin. Three years ago, the Chiefs banned fans from wearing headdresses in Arrowhead Stadium, as well as face painting that “appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.” The story’s intended focus was the NFL and its failure to extend those rules to the entire league.

We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan. To that end, our story was updated on Dec. 7 to remove any photos, tweets, links, or otherwise identifying information about the fan. We have also revised the headline to better reflect the substance of the story.

Holy cats. These insufferable twats can't even write an insincere, mealy-mouthed, lawyerspeak admission of wrongdoing correctly. A simple "We shouldn't have included photos of the boy or claimed he was wearing blackface" might have sufficed. A simple "We're sorry for the harm we caused to this family," would've been nice. Given the fact the Armentas admitted it's been "scary and overwhelming" to their son on national TV:

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But that would take a level of integrity Deadspin is utterly incapable of. Instead we get everything couched in "our intended focus" and the old "we regret any suggestion," like it's the people doing the suggestioning that are in the wrong. Not the alleged adults who couldn't leave an innocent Native American boy alone without dragging him into their self-righteous agenda. 

Yes, the dad said it's too late for an apology anyway, but that doesn't mean you don't offer one. It would be the mature and ethical way to go. But since all he got was this shitty, insulting, disingenuous alphabet soup of nothingness, I hope the lawsuit is on. Putting that awful site out of business and putting its virtual head on the wall as a trophy would be a Christmas gift that's fun for the whole family.