At a funeral, the last thing on your mind is fussing over an obituary. However, Roshun Davis and Timothy Davis are now speaking out after a program distributed at their loved one’s funeral featured images of their Black children with dramatically altered facial features and skin tones.
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The couple said they submitted a picture of four children for the program honoring their late uncle. But when the programs were distributed, the children looked so different that family members barely recognized them.
“I said, ‘Oh, my God! Who are these Mexican kids?’” Roshun recalled during an exclusive interview with Baller Alert.
Roshun posted a video of the mistake online, sparking conversations about AI, accountability, and the handling of sensitive family memories. The service was held at Golden Gate Funeral Home, a well known Dallas establishment that previously appeared on TLC’s Best Funeral Ever. Roshun said the family chose the funeral home because of its reputation in Dallas.
“Golden Gate is popular in Dallas,” she said. “Everybody goes to Golden Gate.”
According to Roshun, the family did not see the finished program before the funeral and discovered the altered images when copies were distributed. She initially thought her children were joking when they pointed out the photograph.
“When I glanced at it, I’m like, my kids are jokesters, so I’m like, they’re playing,” she said. “So when I got home, and I looked at it, I said, ‘Oh, my God. This is what they were trying to make me look at.’”
The mother was stunned. Roshun also alleged that other images contained errors, including a photograph that appeared to duplicate the deceased and his son with altered facial features. She described another image in which the deceased’s head appeared to emerge from a wall.
“It was creepy,” she said.
Roshun believes AI was used improperly during the design process. “I know what they did. They used a bad prompt,” she said.
What Golden Gate Funeral Home Says
Roshun said a Golden Gate employee responded to her online post by claiming the family supplied the images and the funeral home simply printed the program. She told Baller Alert that she captured a screenshot of the comment before it was removed. The response frustrated her, as she believes the focus should have been on correcting the mistake.
“As a business, we’re business owners. When you mess up, you fix it,” she said. “You fix it for your customers. These people are paying.”
Baller Alert also spoke with the funeral home’s owner, Dr. John E. Beckwith Jr., who said families “are allowed to proofread programs before printing.” He added that incorrect programs can be reprinted at no additional cost.
During the phone call, Beckwith said he was confident the issue had been corrected. When asked whether the family received a corrected program, he said he was unsure which service was being discussed. Baller Alert requested the corrected version, and Beckwith said he would have to get permission from the family to share it. He did not call Baller Alert back.
For the couple, the request is simple: They want the funeral home to address the issue and prevent another family from going through the same thing.
“Fix it. That’s it,” Roshun said. “You don’t want your family members being printed out of somebody else that don’t look nothing like them,” she added. “And if you make a mistake as a business owner, own up to it, fix it, actually fix it.”
For the family, the issue goes beyond a printing mistake. They say the experience took away their ability to keep the program as a meaningful remembrance of their loved one. Roshun said they have yet to receive a corrected copy.
