The sports blogging site Deadspin was sold by its parent company to a European startup firm on Monday that will retain none of the staff.
G/O Media sold Deadspin to Lineup Publishing, a move that comes less than four months after Deadspin falsely accused a 9-year-old boy of racism for wearing "blackface" and a traditional Native American headdress to a Kansas City Chiefs football game.
The kid, Holden Armenta, who is of Native American descent, painted his face red and black to support his favorite team, the Chiefs. However, the Deadspin story showed only the side of Armenta's face painted black and called on the NFL to act. The boy's parents filed a defamation lawsuit against Deadspin for portraying their son as a racist.
It's unclear what, if any, the lawsuit impacted G/O CEO Jim Spanfeller of selling Deadspin, which was founded in 2005. Spanfeller said in a memo that the new owners are looking to "build a new team more in line with their editorial vision for the brand."
"While the new owners plan to be reverential to Deadspin's unique voice, they plan to take a different content approach regarding the site's overall sports coverage," Spanfeller said in the memo, according to Axios.
Staffers were informed Monday.
The layoffs marked the third round of cuts in less than a year under the G/O brand, formerly Gizmodo Media.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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