The controversial relationship YouTuber Kevin Samuels has died at the age of 56, NBC reported this morning.
Samuels’ death had been the subject of rumors and speculation on social media since Thursday afternoon but independent verification, via his mother, didn’t come until Friday morning. In an interview with NBC, she expressed her grief and her anger at the rumors that floated on Twitter and Instagram before she had even been notified of her son’s passing.
From NBCBLK
His mother, Beverly Samuels-Burch, declined to release details about what happened. She said she learned of her son’s death from social media.
“That was a terrible thing for social media to put that out. I didn’t even know. I hadn’t even been notified,” she said in a phone call on Friday. “All I’m doing is requesting that people pray for us.”
Samuels had more than 1 million followers on his YouTube account, where he hosted a show on which mostly Black women joined live broadcasts asking for advice. His retorts were often harsh, criticizing women’s behavior, weight appearance. He also made videos where he chided Black men for lack of ambition and for their expectations of women, but his harshest critiques were reserved for the many Black women who logged on for his advice, or to challenge his opinions.
He was often criticized as misogynistic, a call-out that accompanied many comments about his passing on social media.
Others were more balanced in their commentary on his death.
Samuels’ mother offered no details on her son’s passing but NBC’s reporting quoted the Atlanta police department saying police and first responders showed up to an apartment on Paces Ferry Road in northeast Atlanta where a woman who was with Samuels had called 911 after he complained of chest pains and collapsed. The emergency responders performed CPR and transported him to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.