Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
He Made Will Smith Gay? - The David Hampton story
Sat, 08 Mar 2025
David Hampton was an American con artist who, in the early 1980s, deceived numerous affluent New Yorkers by posing as the son of actor Sidney Poitier. He leveraged this fabricated identity to obtain money, food, and shelter from unsuspecting individuals, including notable figures like Inger McCabe Elliott and Osborn Elliott. His exploits inspired John Guare's 1990 play "Six Degrees of Separation," which was later adapted into a 1993 film. This eventually lead to the rumor that Will Smith is gay.
Chapter 1: Who is David Hampton and what did he do?
So this guy pretends to be the son of a famous celebrity, and that somehow made Will Smith gay. Wait, let me explain. So there's this dude, his name's David, and David is 19, he's living in New York City, and one night in 1983, he and his friend are out, and they're trying to get into a club, Studio 54.
So they wait in line for like an hour, and when they finally get to the door, the bouncer tells them, eh, it's gonna be $50 each. And David's like, well, we ain't got $50. Because, you know, they're teenagers, they're broke, they can't pay that entry fee. And so they leave. But then, as they're leaving, David gets an idea. He's like, why don't we pretend to be celebrities, kids?
Then they'll have to let us in. And then he's like, you pretend to be Gregory Peck's son and I'll pretend to be Sidney Poitier's son. And his friend hears this crazy idea and he's like... All right. Now, if you don't know, Sidney Poitier is an actor, and this is 1983, so he's super famous at this time.
He's the first black actor to win the Oscar for best actor, so his name carries a lot of weight during this period. And so David and his friend, they get back in line, and it takes like an hour and a half for them to get to the door again, and somehow the bouncer doesn't recognize them. And David tells them that they're the sons of these famous actors.
And just like that, boom, the bouncer ushers them into the club. And let me tell you, this club is popping. So everyone is looking good and there are celebrities and famous people everywhere. This is the kind of life David has always wanted. And immediately he's like, well, I got to keep doing this. And that's what he does. Because three days later, he tries again.
He walks into a nice bistro and he tells the doorman that he wants a table for two because his dad, Sidney Poitier, is going to be joining him later. And kaboom, they immediately give him a table and the restaurant staff is all nice to him and they're giving him immaculate service. He's ordering all this food and they send over free drinks to the table.
Now, obviously Sidney Poitier never shows up and the staff is like, ah, your dad's probably busy. Whatever, your meal is on the house. And so it worked again, flawlessly. And that is when David decides he's going to keep going as long as possible. Hell, he might even try and get rich off this.
But then bro has a crazy stroke of luck, because one day he's visiting a friend up at Connecticut College. And there he steals another student's address book out of his dorm room. And that student just happens to be kind of rich and has well-connected parents. So now David has the addresses and phone numbers of all these rich people. Some of them happen to live back in New York City.
And this is when he really starts making a name for himself. He starts calling all these well-connected people and basically telling them a bullshit story about how he's Sidney Poitier's kid. And they believe him and they let him hang out. And so he gets to hang out with like Calvin Klein and Melanie Griffith and Gary Sinise. He's the guy who later played Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump.
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Chapter 2: How did David Hampton start his con artist career?
Later, David shows up to Greenwich Village to meet Mr. Elliot. And police are already there, and bam, they arrest him. Here's a mugshot of him. And so he takes a plea deal, and he's ordered to pay any money back to the victims that he had conned. But lucky for him, he does avoid prison time.
But then he fails to pay his victims back and they catch him conning again, still telling people that he's Sidney Poitier's son. And so, bam, they throw his ass in prison for about two years. Here's the crazy part, though. The Elliotts actually end up being friends with this playwright. And the playwright loves this story and he offers to turn it into a play. And so he does.
And the play actually becomes a big hit. Who knows Sidney Poitier? So we can just call him up and ask him. Then, in 1990, they turned that play into a movie called Six Degrees of Separation, starring Will Smith. And Will Smith plays a character based on David, who is openly gay, just like David. Hey, Paul, come on, stop that. I was wondering if I could f*** you.
And so there's like this whole kissing scene that Will Smith has to participate in. And you know, here it is, it's whatever. Now, this was apparently Will Smith's first breakthrough movie role. And allegedly this role started this rumor that Will is secretly gay or bisexual. And search it up. That rumor still persists to this day, 35 years later.
People are still like, oh, I heard Will Smith is secretly gay. Which, by the way, there's not any credible evidence to suggest that he is, nor do I really care. It's just, you know, an interesting story.
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