Kevin Samuels, a YouTuber known for his controversial dating advice, has died, his mother confirmed to NBC News.
On Friday, the Atlanta Police Department confirmed his death after rumors circulated on social media Thursday night that Samuels had died. Police officers responded to a call “regarding a person injured” at Samuels’ apartment on Thursday morning. According to a police report obtained by NBC News, first responders performed CPR after finding him unresponsive and transported him to Piedmont Hospital.
The police report states that a woman, who was in the apartment, told officers that Samuels had complained about chest pain and when he fell down, she called 911.
His mother, Beverly Samuels-Burch, first learned about his death on social media before she had been notified of her son’s passing. “That was a terrible thing for social media to put that out. I didn’t even know. I hadn’t even been notified," she told NBC News. “All I’m doing is requesting that people pray for us.”
The self-described “image consultant” had more than 1.4m subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he shared controversial advice on dating and relationships. Samuels was often described as being “misogynistic” towards women in his videos, particularly attacking Black women.
In a clip from April 2022, Samuels sparked backlash when he described women who are 35 and unmarried as “leftovers”.
“If you have made it to 35 and you are unmarried, you are a leftover woman. You are what is left,” he said. “Men know that there is likely something wrong with you. Whether you want to hear it or not, I’m going to go there with you. I’m telling you the truth that you don’t want to hear.”
Other videos showed Samuels rating women based on their size and appearance, specifically when he labelled rapper Saweetie as “an adjustable six”.
The titles of his most controversial YouTube videos included, “Women Should Let Men Use Them,” “How Much Does Your Submission Cost?,” “Modern Women Are Average At Best?” “Women Love When Men Cheat?” and “Why Aren’t You Married?”
As news circulated surrounding his death, many social media users took the opportunity to draw attention to Samuels’ “misogynistic” behaviour towards women.
“Kevin Samuels has made a career off of shamelessly disgracing Black women for profit,” tweeted journalist Ernest Owens. “He emboldened the most toxic individuals to project tired and harmful narratives about Black women. Dead or alive, what a disgraceful life to live. That’s all I’ve got for that misogynist.”
Others defended Samuels, including fellow YouTuber Adam “Adam22” Grandmaison: “Kevin Samuels was a good dude who gave a lot of people solid advice. He got smeared for having a backbone and an opinion and he didn’t back down to the mob. Rest In Peace”.
Samuels has been married twice, and has a 21-year-old daughter from his first marriage.
