Iman Shumpert Empire
Iman Shumpert Empire, Iman Shumpert is used to steals, but this time it’s happening not on the basketball court but on television — where the former Knick feels his personal life has been ripped off to create two characters on the hit rookie show “Empire.”
Here are the basic biographies: Shumpert, the Cavaliers guard and defensive specialist, has a distinctive high top fade haircut, a sideline as a hip-hop artist and a girlfriend named Teyana Taylor, an R&B singer and actress.
On “Empire,” the soapy saga of the music-business Lyon family, youngest son Hakeem Lyon is a rapper sporting a similar look, involved romantically with Tiana Brown, an up-and-coming R&B singer.
Shumpert has taken notice of the similarities, and he’s calling copycat.
“Come on, man, they’re really using a guy with a flat-top like me. Come on. That’s ridiculous,” Shumpert told Cleveland.com this week. “They never called us. We were blindsided. We found out by our family and fans when the show aired.”
They’re using my girl’s character, her style, her look and she’s not getting anything for it,” he said. “They didn’t even change her name. They could have at least let my girl audition for the part instead of stealing her character completely.”
He also said: “I’m a ballplayer, but that’s her field. That’s what she does. Me personally, I don’t plan on taking any action, but I don’t know about her.”
Let’s take this to YouTube and you can draw your own conclusion — persona theft or NBA ego inflation?
Here are the basic biographies: Shumpert, the Cavaliers guard and defensive specialist, has a distinctive high top fade haircut, a sideline as a hip-hop artist and a girlfriend named Teyana Taylor, an R&B singer and actress.
On “Empire,” the soapy saga of the music-business Lyon family, youngest son Hakeem Lyon is a rapper sporting a similar look, involved romantically with Tiana Brown, an up-and-coming R&B singer.
Shumpert has taken notice of the similarities, and he’s calling copycat.
“Come on, man, they’re really using a guy with a flat-top like me. Come on. That’s ridiculous,” Shumpert told Cleveland.com this week. “They never called us. We were blindsided. We found out by our family and fans when the show aired.”
They’re using my girl’s character, her style, her look and she’s not getting anything for it,” he said. “They didn’t even change her name. They could have at least let my girl audition for the part instead of stealing her character completely.”
He also said: “I’m a ballplayer, but that’s her field. That’s what she does. Me personally, I don’t plan on taking any action, but I don’t know about her.”
Let’s take this to YouTube and you can draw your own conclusion — persona theft or NBA ego inflation?