In April 2025, a rumor began to spread that the mother of professional basketball player Stephen Curry, Sonya Curry, had been "humiliated" by salespeople at a Ferrari dealership.
For example, a post on Facebook, misspelling the mother's first name, said she had visited a Ferrari dealership to buy her son, who plays for the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, a luxury car. However, the post asserted that instead of helping her decide on a vehicle, the staff "Dismissed. Ignored. And ultimately, insulted" her (archived).
As of this writing, the post had gained 119,000 reactions, 8,600 comments and 32,000 reshares. It was not the only time the claim appeared on social media. It also appeared on LinkedIn (archived). That post shared the same text, though it spelled her first name correctly:
She walked in to buy her son a Ferrari. She walked out humiliated. What Stephen Curry did next, away from the cameras, didn't just make headlines—it changed everything. This isn't just about a just about a car; it's about justice.
Further, Snopes readers emailed and searched the website seeking to confirm the story.
The post went on to claim that after his mother told him what happened, Curry "investigated" the matter, sending people of different skin color to the Ferrari dealership, only to find that the staff treated people differently depending on that color and perceived status.
However, Snopes could find no evidence that the events had occurred. Several Google and Google News searches revealed no reputable source for or reliable reporting on the claims. The misspelling of her name indicated a lack of information verification. Further, a disclaimer in a comment under the LinkedIn post read:
Disclaimer: some of this may be fictional according to some messages received AFTER this was posted. At the time of posting on 27 April 2025, my understanding was that this was true.
We could also find no basis for allegations that Curry had launched a campaign, titled, "Respect in Every Space," either on Google or on his website.
We could, however, find one article on the website Information Technology Business, or IBT, making the same claims, but also misspelling Sonya Curry's first name:
Sonia Curry entered a prestigious Ferrari dealership to buy a Ferrari Roma for her son, NBA star Stephen Curry. Despite her grace, class, and intent to pay immediately, she faced subtle dismissal, open skepticism, and ultimately humiliation. Salespeople steered her toward used cars and accused her of fabricating celebrity connections.
The website appeared to have a mailing address in the Czech Republic, and the name of the article's author, Natalie Bezděková, also appeared to be Czech of origin. However, Bezděková seemed to be the only person writing stories on the website. Further, running the article through a detector of artificial intelligence-generated content showed it was unlikely a human had written it.
Though the posters provided no sources for their claims, and the IBT website did not seem to publish reliable information, we contacted Curry's publicists asking for confirmation on the claims. We will update this report should they respond.