A young fan of the Kansas City Chiefs wore red and black face paint and a Native American headdress to a recent Chiefs game. Though fans seemed more than willing to join him in doing “the chop,” a sports journalist at Deadspin declared that the NFL needed to take action against the young man for wearing “blackface.” Other journalists followed in his footsteps, attacking the young boy for his costume.
One of them is now apologizing and admitting that he made a bad call in deciding to jump on the story early rather than wait for the full facts of the matter to emerge, facts which would have shown him that the boy was just dressing for his favorite team, not bizarrely wearing blackface to an NFL game.
That journalist is Jack McGuire of Barstool Sports. Commenting on the matter in a video posted to TikTok, McGuire said that he bungled the story about the young Chiefs fan in the Chiefs colors in headdress and admitted that he should have handled it differently.
Speaking in the video, McGuire said, “I am an idiot.” He continued, “On Sunday, I took this photo — and said that he was wearing blackface and a headdress.” He then added, “What I did not do is let more things come out about that photo.”
McGuire then went on to note that his doing so was a problem because “the other side of his face was red,” meaning the boy was not in blackface. He also added, “as for the headdress, it has come out that he is Native American.” Speaking more on the boy’s Native American heritage, McGuire added, “His grandfather is part of the Chumash tribe”
He then went on to describe what he has done to somewhat rectify the situation. He said, “I have since taken down this TikTok.” Continuing, he said, “And the apology should be as loud as the accusation.” Then, plainly articulating his apology, he said, “So here is my TikTok saying I am sorry and also I am an idiot.”
Watch McGuire here:
"*" indicates required fields
Commenting on the matter during a recent interview with Jesse Watters, the boy’s father, Bubba, said, “I don’t even know what to think about [apologizing]. It’s kind of a little too late for that. The damage is already done. It’s 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 continued, commenting on the headdress aspect of the costume, “The tribe we’re from doesn’t even wear that type of headdress. …It’s a costume piece. That’s exactly what we had purchased it for and wore it for. Not in any disrespect towards any Native Americans at all. It’s just it’s been a whirlwind of comments coming from other tribes or members. Some think it’s okay. Some think it’s not okay. It’s a nine-year-old boy supporting his team.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video