Honey Boo Boo Defends Boyfriend Amid News Of His Arrest On Statutory Rape Charge
She's 16 & he's 21.
Instagram Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson has spoken out against the criticism of her relationship after her boyfriend's past rape arrest resurfaced online.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the former "Toddlers and Tiaras" star, 16, spoke about the backlash she has received from her relationship with Dralin Carswell, 21.
"In our relationship, the two most things that everybody is always talking about is our age gap and definitely because he's Black and I’m white and we're an interracial couple," Thompson said.
However, it seems that Thompson isn't worried about what people on the internet have to say about her relationship.
"I don’t care because, like, at the end of the day, my sister approves, his mom approves and we’re happy, so what fans got to say or what haters got to say, I don’t really care."
Honey Boo Boo's boyfriend was arrested on statutory rape in 2019.
Court documents, obtained by The Sun, showed that Carswell was arrested in May 2019. Thompson was not the victim and the incident happened before she and Carswell started dating.
According to the police report, the mother of the alleged victim brought her daughter to the police and claimed that Carswell, who was 18 at the time, climbed through her daughter's window and had sex with the minor, who was 15.
An officer interviewed the minor, according to the report, and wrote: "I asked the daughter if it was consensual, and she stated 'Yes.'"
The minor told police that "her plan with Carswell was for him to come to the house and while there they had consensual unprotected sex in her bedroom."
Carswell told police that the minor "was his girlfriend and they had talked about him coming to her house ... but he did not actually go to the house," claiming that he had been at his friend's house all day and night.
However, when Carswell's friends were interviewed, two of them told authorities that they had dropped Carswell off at the minor's home and picked him up over an hour later.
When the friends allegedly picked Carswell up, they told police that he "was scared and told them to drive fast" because the minor's "mama had caught him inside the house."
The case against Dralin Carswell was later dismissed.
Carswell was initially charged with statutory rape but ultimately completed a pretrial diversion program that resulted in the dismissal of a claim for making a false statement to law enforcement.
During the hearing, the assistant district attorney said that Carswell "was charged with statutory rape, misdemeanor grade," but "based on the evidence we didn't feel like we could prove the statutory rape but could prove making a false statement."
Thompson's older sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon, who was granted sole custody of Thompson in April, also defended the relationship.
“She’s not getting married, she’s not having a kid, she’s doing very good in school,” Shannon, 22, told ET, adding that despite their age difference, Thompson and Carswell are “on the same wavelength.”
Thompson's mother, “Mama” June Shannon, echoed Lauryn's statement, saying that her youngest daughter is old enough to make her own decisions.
“She is getting a lot of hate because she’s in an interracial relationship [and] he is older,” June told TooFab in May. “At the end of the day, Alana’s not that 6-, 7-year-old child y’all fell in love with 11 years ago."
"Alana has grown up, she’s graduating high school next year, guys! People need to realize that she’s going to be 17 in August.”
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.