Following the unexpected death of Kevin Samuels, a GoFundMe seeking expenses to cover the funeral surfaced days later, much to the surprise of the controversial personality’s following as he was known to promote financial independence. This prompted a slew of negative comments, calling Samuels’ family hypocrites. However, it was quickly revealed that the donation page was created by someone posing as a member of the family.
TMZ reported on Monday (May 16) that “a source with direct knowledge reached out to Kevin’s family to verify the account.” Upon learning that the family didn’t create the GoFundMe, the fundraiser was taken down from the platform. Melanie King was the individual named to be behind the effort, with a fundraising goal of $50,000. The goal, however, was not met before it was removed.
The family denied to accept the few donations accumulated—worth a few hundred dollars—and thus, the money was returned to its donors.
Complex reached out to GoFundMe regarding the matter and a spokesperson shared, “Safety is our top priority. It’s very important to us that donor intentions are honored and that money goes to the right place. Generally, if the recipient does not want to receive funds raised on their behalf on GoFundMe, we will refund all donors. In this case, we have been in touch with a representative of the family and the family has stated that they do not wish to receive funds from fundraisers. As such, our Trust & Safety team is proactively monitoring the platform for fundraisers created on the family’s behalf, and will remove fundraisers started without family consent.”
Samuels died earlier this month, at the age of 57, and recently made a posthumous appearance in the FX series Atlanta.