Stephon Marbury’s relatively quiet retirement from basketball took a bizarre turn this week when he published an image of a young boy sleeping in the nude on his Instagram account. The child’s lower half is obscured by a glowing basketball.
According to the Score, the ball is a new product from Marbury’s Starbury brand and can be made to light up when synched with a mobile device.
The strange social media post appears to have been a poorly thought out marketing ploy, with the image captioned “It begins #starbury #globeball #austin #yiyi #china.” Whatever the reason behind the image, it resulted in online accusations that Marbury is a pedophile, accusations the former NBA and CBA star has denied.
We have chosen not to include the image in this article due to the age of the child involved, as well as the youth’s unclothed state in the photo.
Following the controversy, Marbury vented his anger on Weibo.
“It’s sad that people would use their imagination in this way,” Marbury wrote. “Hurt people always try to hurt people.”
In the same post, Marbury explained that the boy in the photo is his ‘nephew.’ The child is the son of Marbury’s Chinese translator, according to NextShark. Marbury eventually clarified online that the image was not taken by him, but by the young basketballer’s mother and shared with him via WeChat. Apparently, the boy was so enthralled with the basketball that he wouldn’t part with it at bed time.
Image via @starburymarbury/Instagram
Reactions to Marbury’s post were mixed, although more than a few people came out to support the former Beijing Ducks star.
One netizen wrote: “We believe you, do not pay attention to people who do not understand you. We know that you have passed on love to everyone. Your products are especially cool. You will always be our MVP. Come on.”
Another user was more vocal: “Man. I think this is good for ya. Let people know who you really are. Haters will always hate. Don’t give a damn.”
Admittedly, our favorite comment comes from Instagram user @denimmdavis and simply reads ‘What the.’
The retired NBA star, known in China as Ma Bu Li (马布里), has refused to remove the photo from his Instagram page and the image currently remains online. The pic had been liked over 640 times as of press time.
READ MORE: Stephon Marbury to Call It Quits After 9 Years in the CBA
[Cover image via @starburymarbury/Instagram]
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