Chris Canty wants people to stop touching his baby: ‘I don’t know where your hands have been!’

Chris Canty having a cute baby doesn’t excuse random people in public from keeping their hands to themselves.

Canty and his wife welcomed their son earlier this year. And by Canty’s own account, he’s a pretty cute seven-month-old. So cute that random people at the airport can’t help but tug at his hands and feet. And Canty rightfully has a problem with it.

Why do people want to touch babies when we’re out in public?

Can we stop touching other people’s babies? 😅@ChrisCanty99 pic.twitter.com/lK43AvR2KI

— UNSPORTSMANLIKE (@UnSportsESPN) August 6, 2026

“Why do people want to touch babies when they’re out in public?” Canty ranted on ESPN Radio’s UnSportsmanlike. “We’re in an airport. I get that my kid is cute – objectively speaking – I know everybody thinks their kid is cute. I’m not saying my kid is gonna be some male model, but he objectively is a handsome young man. Why do you feel compelled to touch him? Why are you grabbing his arm? Why are you grabbing his feet?

“Stop touching my kid! I don’t know where your hands have been! I don’t know if you’ve watched them, I don’t know if you’ve sanitized, we literally a couple of years removed from a pandemic where people are walking around with masks and not touching people! And yet you want to touch my seven-month-old child.”

Canty is right. Don’t be touching kids who you’re not with. But I find it’s usually other kids trying to touch babies in public spaces more than adults. If I take my eyes off the stroller for a second, there’s bound to be a random kid, not a sibling, trying to give our one-year-old her pacifier.

The keeping your hands to yourself era of the pandemic is one of the fallouts that probably should have stuck. There was no need for the world to revert back to unnecessary touching and kissing as a greeting. But six years after the pandemic, here we are. Stephen A. Smith thinks Kyrie Irving was a brave hero, and everyone is back to ignoring common germs.

And while we’re on the topic, don’t touch dogs without asking first either. Most of the time, the answer is “sure, you can pet my dog.” But not every dog likes to be pet in every setting.