Mia Burks, the mother of Carmelo Anthony’s daughter, is keeping the comments cute and positive on her Instagram posts amid reactions to the slam-dunk birthday party she threw for their child. The daughter was born while the 2003 third overall NBA draft pick was still married to his ex-wife, La La Anthony.
Photos from the New York Knicks-themed gathering showed 7-year-old Genesis Harlo dressed in an orange and blue Knicks outfit that cleared up any doubt among those who still questioned if Carmelo is the child’s father. Additional footage from the occasion shows that her dad was also in attendance.
When images from the outdoor event landed on Instagram blog pages on Aug. 7, some of the comments read, “She wanted everyone to know Camelo her baby daddy. Aint no way that child wanted that theme LMAO.”
Someone else said, “The side babies always look like the daddies.” Unsurprisingly, the “Power” actress’s name was mentioned a number of times in remarks such a “I really hate he did this to Lala. And ruined their marriage.”
The exes, who are parents to 17-year-old son Kiyan Anthony, divorced in 2021 following years of an on-and-off relationship. Their failed attempts to reconcile began in 2017, around the same time that Carmelo was exposed in numerous rumors accusing him of adultery and fathering a child with another woman, who later was revealed as Burks.
La La previously shared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that the onset of marital woes dated back to 2011 after her then-husband was traded from the Knicks to the Denver Nuggets. The former MTV “TRL” personality has kept clear of discussing her ex’s daughter in public.
It’s still so wild to me that Carmelo Anthony can have multiple children with mistresses and Lala be seen as the problem and degraded online for leaving him. https://t.co/PjwjRjzQAL
— Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH (@GeauxGabrielle) December 31, 2023
Burks has played a game of possum with social media, having only a total of 27 posts dating back to 2018, and of those, her daughter appears in five. Her latest came on Aug. 3, two days after sharing a glimpse of Genesis’ birthday festivities.
The mother of one opted for a carousel of selfies, memes, one of which read, “He wanted the best, so he got him a girlfriend from Chicago,” and other musings such as buildings and a mural. She captioned the post with a quote from the late comedian Bernie Mac: “‘It takes two to tango, but four to cabbage patch.’” She also clarified that the “caption ain’t got s—t to do with these pics.”
Comments were limited, seemingly amid the onslaught of attention her celebrating Genesis garnered. However, four years ago, the author of the children’s book “Tall Like Me,” had far less concern about internet chatter. In resurfaced tweets, she did not spare Carmelo’s feelings as she accused him of being manipulative.
When the former NBA superstar posed for the cover of SLAM with Kiyan in 2020, Burks had plenty to say about her ex. The special edition of the magazine welcomed Carmelo as a guest editor as he called out social injustice and demanded “equality for the future.”
His once secret lover lashed out at him on Twitter. “The same justice system @carmeloanthony is exposing, he is using his ‘celebrity status’ to manipulate beyond the law,” she wrote.
In subsequent tweets, Burks went harder, writing things such as “a lot of these celebs be lying they a— off and their delusional fans be sipping the kool-aid,” “propaganda,” and “basically, I guess we just have to let people cap in peace.”
She even wrote, “You can speak the truth until you’re blue in the face and people will still try to change it to a narrative that is suitable for them” and that “Someone can be at peace and still say something to ’shake the table.’ Someone could be upset and not say a word. Don’t try to generalize what certain terms are to your liking—that’s projecting.”
The posts were later deleted. At that time, Carmelo had not confirmed the reports of him fathering a daughter, nor had he given the allegations that he cheated on La La any credence.
When Burks’ tweets resurfaced in a YouTube video published by The Jasmine Brand, her plight was perceived as an attempt to gain unjustified sympathy. “You can tell the difference between a mother that puts her child needs and well-being before her and you can also tell the one that became a mother for clout attention money,” speculated one commenter.
A second user asked, “What did she expect having a baby with a married man?” While a third took aim at Carmelo as they wrote, “I DO NOT AGREE with his lame a— actions towards that child! He made her too. His responsibilities! It will come back 10x’s worse.”
It is unclear what custody terms Burks and Carmelo have settled on as they have managed to keep their co-parenting agreement under lock and key.
