[cashflyer]

With regard to the claim of being mixed-race, according to the Daily Beast:

Gary Evans, 62, who was married to Mercer’s aunt, told The Daily Beast in a phone interview that when Mercer came into the world, his birth father was not in the picture.

“They were separated when I first met them, and I don’t believe they ever were married,” Evans said.

The father is Caucasian, Evans said, while Mercer’s mother, Laurel Harper, is black.