Staff of Deadspin, that wrongly accused young Chiefs fan of blackface, laid off
Deadspin has laid off its entire staff after it was sold to European startup Lineup Publishing. The Chicago-based sports blog was previously owned by G/O Media, an American media holding company. CEO Jim Spanfeller announced the layoffs on Monday, saying the entire Deadspin staff is being laid off in a shocking memo.
Sports news site Deadspin has laid off its entire staff after the Chiefs game ‘blackface’ scandal(Getty Images)
Entire Deadspin staff laid off as sports blog sold to European company
“I have some news to share regarding one of our sites in the G/O Media portfolio. Recently we were approached by the European firm Lineup Publishing expressing interest in purchasing Deadspin to add to their growing media holdings,” Spanfeller said in the memo, per Fox News.
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“After careful consideration, the G/O Media board of directors has decided to accept their offer. I do want to make it clear that we were not actively shopping Deadspin,” the memo continued.
Spanfeller further explained in the memo that Lineup Publishing has decided not to “carry over any of the site’s existing staff.” This means that the entire Deadspin staff has been fired. The European startup will “build a new team more in line with their editorial vision for the brand.”
The staff at Deadspin were notified about the layoffs shortly before the memo was released, as explained by Spanfeller- “This unfortunately means that we will be parting ways with those impacted staff members, who were notified earlier today.”
Deadspin’s Kansas City Chiefs ‘blackface’ controversy
Last year, Deadspin faced a major blow when one of its reporters, Carron J. Phillips, accused 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan Holden Armenta of racism and cultural appropriation. The story, which was published under the headline, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress,” sparked outrage.
In the story, Deadspin accused the 9-year-old boy of wearing a “blackface” and featured a picture of his face partially. When in reality, Armenta had painted half of his face red, which the picture failed to depict.
Following the controversy, the company released a statement, saying, “We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family. 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,” per the outlet.
