When a viral post questioned whether Iman Shumpert was the father of his two daughters, he went straight to their mom, singer and actor Teyana Taylor. On November 9, the former NBA player tagged his ex-wife on X and jokingly asked her to pick up the phone. Taylor played along, pointing out how much their girls resemble their dad.
What the parents actually said
Shumpert shared the post to make fun of it. He also reassured readers who had seen the image circulating with it that he was fine. Read either parent’s joke on its own and it can sound like a discovery. Read their replies together and it’s clear they were laughing at an unsupported claim. The viral post offered no credible evidence of a DNA test.
The Christian perspective
It takes a second to forward a screenshot to the group chat. It can take a child years to stop finding that same story attached to their family name. These parents chose humor. Their daughters never chose to be part of the conversation.
Proverbs 18:13 asks us to listen before answering. That applies to the share button, too. If you already passed the claim along, one small act of care is to go back to the same people and say, “I shared that too quickly. Both parents dismissed it.” You can give the correction the same audience without sending the screenshot around again.
Reporting behind this story · TheGrio’s November 11 report and Shumpert’s embedded posts · The Shade Room’s November 10 coverage of the exchange.
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