At some point on Thursday, the website quietly amended Carron J. Phillips’ Nov. 27 takedown of native headdresses and insensitive face paint at NFL games with an editor’s note saying the publication “regret[s] any suggestion that we were attacking” 9-year-old Holden Armenta.

The editors also removed the original header photo that showed Holden in profile wearing a traditional Native American headdress and his face painted in black and red, two of the Chiefs’ four team colors, at the Nov. 26 game — and revised the headline so that it no longer called out the fan specifically. …

“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,” the editor’s note lamented.

[This is still dishonest. The point of the original article was to accuse the boy of “blackface,” not outrage primarily over the headdress. The full picture of the fan’s face clearly showed the rather common practice of featuring the team colors on each side of the face; it had nothing to do with Native American warpaint. It was a malicious hit piece that targeted a little boy, and Deadspin’s retreat changes nothing about their scummy choices. They are now using a picture of Roger Goodell. — Ed]