In an incident reminiscent of Rachel Dolezal, conservative bloggers have accused prominent #BlackLivesMatter protester and DailyKos columnist Shaun King of not being black at all.

King has long claimed to be biracial, telling a magazine in 2012 that he was the son of a white mother and a black father. But a conservative blogger Vicki Pate obtained a copy of King’s birth certificate and posted it on the Internet, claiming the man listed as his father was also white.



King’s father, Jeffrey Wayne King, was listed as 23 years old at the time of his son’s birth. But the only Jeffrey Wayne King of that age from Kentucky appears from his mugshot to be a white man:

Pate also tracked down an alleged childhood picture in which the already light-skinned King appears much more obviously Caucasian, with curly red hair:

King had already been accused by conservative outlets like The Daily Caller, The Blaze, and Breitbart of fabricating details about– or fabricating entirely– a racist hate crime from his high school days. Those same outlets noted that the arrest record marked King down as “white” (although as The Washington Post‘s Wesley Lowery can tell you, that doesn’t always mean much).

King took to Twitter to angrily deny that he faked his heritage, comparing his critics to birthers and saying his family history was complicated:

23. In essence, what is happening to me now, is like conservatives demanding Obama's long form birth certificate. It's all BULLSHIT. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

24. Out of respect for my dear mother, my siblings, and my extended family who've loved me through it all, I've just kept on working. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

25. First off, the key facts about my biological relatives are all wrong. They tried, but my family, like many of yours, is one big mess. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

26. Like many of you, I have siblings I don't know, siblings I'm estranged from, and a family full of secrets, divorce, affairs, etc. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

27. No 2 siblings in my family have the same set of parents. We're all over the place. Some of us are not even blood relatives. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

28. Some of the problem here, is that MOST of you (friend & foe alike) have only known me since the day Mike Brown was killed. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

29. If you have known me from when I was in elementary school at Huntertown Elementary until now, you've known me as black or bi-racial. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

30. I did not concoct a lie about my race to get into @Morehouse. I did not concoct a lie about my race to get an @Oprah scholarship. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

31. Every single person who knows me BEYOND Twitter, beyond trending topics and HIT PIECES, knows I have never lied about my race. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

33. Not only that, but the truth is that @GlennBeck & @TheBlaze & Breitbart DON'T GIVE A SHIT about my race. They just want me to shut up. — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 19, 2015

[Images via Re-NewsIt]

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