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.