Popular YouTuber and self-proclaimed relationship expert Kevin Samuels has reportedly passed away at age 56. He was known for dating advice and YouTube videos where he operated under the self-proclaimed title of an “image consultant.”
Samuels has gained a following of over 1.4 Million YouTube subscribers and 1.2 Million Instagram followers through the way he addresses black women. His image consulting agency works with “men who want to improve their appearance,” according to his website.
Plug Talk’s Instagram account claimed Samuels died of “cardiac arrest,” but the post did not offer verification of its report. Other Instagram accounts quickly latched onto that same narrative without offering any confirmation.
It appears that the reports of Samuels’ death originated from a single social media post claiming he died Thursday morning.
Samuels’ Instagram account included a video in which he talks about “modern women” and reflects on whether they are “a party of 1.”
Wednesday was Samuels’ most recent social media activity, as his Facebook had not been updated since at least Tuesday. His final tweet was posted in April, but that post was linked to his Instagram. The last video he posted on his YouTube channel was about the aforementioned “Modern Women” and was published at the same time as the Instagram post on Wednesday.
Some of his most popular videos include “How Much Do You Cost to Submit?” and “Modern Women Are Average at Best?” Just last week he sparked outrage on social media after he said unmarried women who are 35 years old and over are considered “leftover women.”
“If you live to 35 and you’re not married, you’re a leftover. You’re leftover. Men know you may have a problem,” he said. “Whether you want to hear it or not, I’ll go with you. I’m telling you the truth you don’t want to hear.”
One time, Samuels asked one woman, “What do you think about sharing a man?” to which she replied, “I’m fine with that, because, if they’re going to mess with other women, I’m going to do what I want to do, too.”
Predictably, Samuels responded, “No, no, that’s not how it works: you share your man and you sit down.”
Rumors regarding his death from cardiac arrest began circulating on Twitter and other social media outlets earlier this evening, leading to an online battle between Samuels’ fans and critics.
After declining steadily for more than a decade, new research shows the number of people dying from cardiac arrests, is climbing. And the greatest increase is among young Black adults, like Samuels.
The study, which is being presented Friday at the American Heart Association’s virtual Scientific Sessions, pulled data from 311,065 death certificates for Black and white people in the United States who died from cardiac arrest from 1999-2018.
Researchers found deaths from cardiac arrest, when the heart suddenly stops beating, initially dropped by nearly half. The rate fell from 80.1 deaths per million people in 1999 to 44.3 per million people in 2012.
But then those numbers nearly reversed, climbing 8.8% overall from 2012 to 2018. The increase was significantly higher – 10.9% – for Black adults compared to 6.9% for white adults. When it came to people under the age of 35, deaths from cardiac arrest among Black people jumped by 35%. But they fell for white people by 11%. Among those 65 and older, deaths increased twice as much for Black adults – 8% compared to 4% for their white peers. The findings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Love him or hate him, it seems as though both sides want to weigh in on criticizing or celebrating Samuel’s death.
“Kevin Samuels told broke men & mediocre faced women to shoot in their range and only one group wants him dead because of it. LMFAO,” one user wrote, for example.
A young woman shot back, “I don’t believe Kevin Samuels is dead, for the record. But me not feeling bad if he is doesn’t mean I’m ‘celebrating’ it. He went out of his way to be cruel. We are not required to mourn virtues he didn’t show. And asking black women, of all ppl, to show tact is audacious.”