What happened to Angela Simmons' baby daddy? Internet blasts reality star for carrying a gun accessory to the BET Awards 2024

Growing Up Hip Hop star Angela Simmons walked the red carpet at the 2024 BET Awards holding a gun-shaped purse. Netizens criticized her choice of accessory, given that her former fiancé and father of her 6-year-old son was fatally gunned down in 2018.

Angela Simmons slammed for her choice of purse at the 2024 BET Awards. (Image via X/@RealDealChris)

Angela, 36, shares her only child with the late Sutton Tennyson, who was shot 13 times in an Atlanta garage. The reality TV star, who is the daughter of Joseph Ward Simmons, aka Rev. Run, was called “distasteful” and “irresponsible” for sporting her gun purse on the red carpet Sunday.

"Didn’t her baby father die from gun violence?", questioned one person.

"based off a tragic event in her life.. this is distasteful", wrote another.

"After losing your child’s father to gun violence you thought this was the answer….", one more chimed in.

"This was a terrible purse choice", commented another.

A few others said Angela Simmons' parents would be disappointed, especially her father, given he is a pastor. Some said this move would be a bad message for the Black community.

"What’s the message here? YOUR FATHER IS A PASTOR!", commented one user.

"This purse in particular I feel is soooo irresponsible the way Black people are gunned down by police for breathing to hard", noted another.

"Identity crisis. Her father is Rev Run. Her child father lost his life to…gun violence. Chileee", said another.

"I know her parents are so disappointed", one user wrote.

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Angela Simmons once broke down after her son inquired about his father

Angela Simmons got engaged to Sutton Tennyson in April 2016 and welcomed their son, Sutton Joseph Jr., in September of that year. In 2017, the reality TV Star called off the engagement. She reportedly filed for a protective order against Sutton in December 2017.

Angela and Sutton were in a court battle over the custody of their son following their split. Before Sutton’s death, their last court date was on October 13, 2018, concerning the amount to be paid for child custody.

She explained the reason for calling off their engagement to her mother, Valerie Vaughn:

"I just got to a place where I feel like I wasn’t happy and I tried and I tried and I tried and I wanted it to work because the last thing I wanted to do was not be together with the person I had my child with."

Angela Simmons added:

"I thought I met my husband. I’m going to marry him, we have kids. And it just didn’t happen like that. God had another plan for me."

Angela announced her ex-fiancé's death via an Instagram post on November 3, 2018. She wrote in the caption:

"Thank you for leaving behind my greatest gift. I’m hurting. I’m numb. Thank you for the outpouring of love, everyone. I cant believe I’m even saying Rest In Peace, Sutton. I promise to hold SJ down in every way, I promise."

On an episode of Growing Up Hip Hop, Angela Simmons emotionally recounted a conversation with her 3-year-old son.

"I was with my son, and super emotional right, even to talk about it. He was looking out the window and he's like, 'Daddy, white car'," she said tearily.

She continued:

"I question him, 'Where do you see him?' or 'Who is Daddy? What does he look like?' I'm asking him. I'm like, 'Do you want to see your dad?' and he's like, 'Yes.' So he comes over and I start showing him videos and pictures and stuff, and he stopped. It's not like he's full conversational yet, so this is what kind of makes it emotional. He was like, 'Is he alive?'"

Angela said back then that it was the first time she had to explain to her son what had happened to his father. She said it was “super sad” because he was just three. She broke down:

"How do you explain to a 3-year-old that they're never going to see them again? Other than my own way, which is like, 'He's in Heaven, he's with God.'"

Angela recalled that her son, who is otherwise a happy kid, got “mopey and sad” after they had the conversation about Sutton Tennyson.