Popular YouTuber Kevin Samuels, who sparked controversy for his self-proclaimed relationship expertise and allegations of misogynistic statements, died on Thursday, his mother confirmed to NBC News.
Samuels, who was 56, was staying with a woman when he started to have chest pain, the woman told police, according to an incident report from the Atlanta Police Department.
The woman said that he then fell on top of her and she called 911, according to the incident report.
Officials attempted CPR at the scene but Samuels was unresponsive, according to police.
Samuels' mother told NBC News she first learned of her son's death from social media rumors that circulated Thursday night.
"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. "All I'm doing is requesting that people pray for us."
Atlanta police and the Atlanta medical examiner could not confirm that Samuels had died.
He grew a following of 1.4 million subscribers on the platform but faced backlash for his comments about women, including one in which he stated that unmarried women over 35 were considered "leftovers" who men will know "have a problem," according to The Root.
He also advised that "modern Black women" should seek "high value" men and would equate women's value and attractiveness to their weight, The Grio reported. Samuels also made videos rating women with numbers.
Critics said he perpetrated stereotypes and discrimination Black women face while dating, The Root reported.
Journalist Ernest Owens tweeted on Friday that Samuels "made a career off of shamelessly disgracing Black women for profit."
"He emboldened the most toxic individuals to project tired and harmful narratives about Black women," he said.
Samuels' last upload — a two-hour livestream on Wednesday — was titled "Modern Women Are A Party of 1."
The video's comments section has since overflowed with fans mourning the YouTuber and thanking him for his "pragmatic" advice.
Samuels created his YouTube channel back in early 2015. It has amassed over 290 million views across all videos. Samuels was also popular on Instagram and Facebook, where his accounts have garnered 1.2 million followers and over 280,000 likes, respectively.
