‘It’s Time We Get Serious about Hypertension In the Black Community’: Kevin Samuels Cause of Death Revealed as Hypertension, No Foul Play was Involved

Two months after his surprise passing, the cause of death for controversial YouTube personality Kevin Samuels has been released. TMZ and others report the cause as hypertension. 

The 57-year-old self-proclaimed relationship guru passed away earlier this year on May 5 in his apartment minutes after complaining of chest pain. 

It's Time We Get Serious about Hypertension In the Black Community': Kevin Samuels Cause of Death Revealed as Hypertension, No Foul Play was Involved
Picture: @kevinrsamuels/Instagram

“The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office just released findings into Samuels’ death telling us he died due to hypertension – high blood pressure,” TMZ reported. “The ME says, ‘Evidence of hypertension includes a heart whose chambers are thicker than normal.” 

Samuels reportedly was taking a medicine named Atenolol for the high blood pressure. TMZ wrote, “The ME notes in their findings that the medication is used to treat hypertension. Samuels’s death is classified as due to natural causes.” 

TMZ posted the report about Samuels on tits Twitter account, where The Shade Room screenshotted it and uploaded the tweet to its Instagram page. 

Fans of Samuels, along with critics, rallied underneath The Shade Room’s post after viewing the information. 

“He was always talking about black women’s health though”

“He should’ve been worried about his blood pressure and not why black women are single, hmmm.” 

“It’s time we get serious about hypertension in the black community”

A Heart.org article that outlines statistics relating to African-Americans and high blood pressure notes that more than half of America’s Black adults are living with hypertension.

“About 55% of Black adults have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension or HBP. Black people also have disproportionately high rates of more severe HBP and it develops earlier in life.” 

The article continued, “Black neighborhoods lack stores that stock healthier foods. And areas that have historically lacked investments often don’t have safe places to walk, run, or exercise.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top