In 2014, the Internet freaked out over John Legend’s baby doppelgänger, Caden. Now meet NBA champion Steph Curry’s pint-size likeness, Landon Lee Benton!
The 10-month-old went viral on social media after one online troll dubbed him “Stuff Curry,” in reference to his weight.
“Somebody … re-posted one of his pictures on Facebook,” Landon’s mom, Jessica Benton, told ABC News. “They took his picture without me knowing and said, ‘Give little man a nickname.’ Someone said, ‘Stuff Curry,’ and by the time I noticed it, it had been shared, like, 50,000 times and there were comments up the wazoo with, like, 20,000 shares on Twitter.”
Other cruel trolls suggested nicknames including Hoagie Bryant, Cake Griffin and Snaquille O’Meal. “He’s not obese, he’s fine,” Benton said. “He’s breastfed, and I make his pureed baby foods. There’s no junk food going on here. A 10-month-old can’t even eat junk food. He’s just a chunky baby. I think he looks chunkier because he’s short.”
Benton, 39, chose to clap back by owning the situation and flooding Landon’s page with photos of her son dressed up in Golden State Warriors gear. “I wanted to really turn it into something good and take control of it and say, ‘OK, we’re gonna own this name. Yeah, we’re Stuff Curry. We look like the famous basketball player,” she explained in an interview with ESPN.
The Quincy, Illinois–based tot has since amassed more than 42,000 Instagram followers. In a May 22 post, Benton warned: “FYI: I will not tolerate any negativity. If I see rude comments I will not respond. You will just be blocked, no questions asked.”
Bullying is an especially sensitive subject for Benton. Her 20-year-old son took his life while she was pregnant with Landon. “When you have a child who has passed from suicide you think of all the things you could have done differently,” she told ABC News. “I go back to when he told me in 11th grade that kids at school were saying mean things about him. I gave him the mom pep talk to ignore them. You never know the one or two comments that could’ve changed something.”
