‘The Voice’ and ‘AGT’ Singer Dakota Striplin Claiming to be Elvis Presley’s Secret Grandson Has Twitter in Uproar

A contestant on The Voice Australia and formerly of America’s Got Talent is claiming to be the secret grandson of Elvis Presley, and fans have some strong feelings about that.

Singer Dakota Striplin has taken his soulful singing and guitar playing to a few televised talent shows now, most recently The Voice Australia. There, the 24-year-old singer casually explained that he believes he is the grandson of the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis Presley.

Striplin said that his later grandmother was close friends with Elvis, and was spending a lot of time with him right around the time that she became pregnant with his father. His grandfather, he said, was away a lot during that time, and he thought this helped explain why his father always stood out as different from is siblings.

“Mum started looking at dates and associations and stuff,” he said. “And she saw that it could be a possibility because my grandma used to work for Elvis and apparently had met him and knew him.”

Striplin even went so far as to say that his father took a DNA test, which said that his father was not directly related to the rest of his siblings. This could be explained by him having a different father than them. Meanwhile, he also noted that his grandmother used to take his father on trips to Hawaii, which was noted as a favorite getaway for Elvis in later years.

The truth or fiction of this relation may never be known, as Striplin said his family has never been successful in geting ahold of Presley’s estate.

“My mum tried to email [Elvis’ Estate], and been like, ‘we are just trying to figure this stuff out,’” Striplin said on the show. The young singer insists that he is not making these claims for publicity, but to try to find the truth for his family’s sake. However, his comments have social media in an uproar, either captivated by the possibility of the scandal or horrified by the implication.

“I can’t believe that he has gone on The Voice saying that he is Elvis Presley Grandson [what the f—],” one fan wrote.

“Is some d—bag on #TheVoiceAU claiming he might be Elvis Presley’s grandson. That’s highly offensive to his biologically proven family. Just for his moment in the spotlight,” wrote another.

So far, Elvis Presley’s estate has not issued any official response to Striplin or his family. Elvis has a grandson from his marriage to Priscilla Presley from 1967 to 1973. After their divorce, he was associated with a few other women in his life, including songwriter Linda Thompson and Ginger Alden.

Striplin remains on The Voice Australia, which airs on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. local time.