Gypsy-Rose Blanchard is speaking out following the death of her partner Ken Urker and urging fans to support Kenan’s Law, a petition aimed at holding social media platforms accountable for how they handle online harassment.
Although the cause of death has not yet been announced, Blanchard wrote that before Urker died, the duo had repeatedly reported the harassment and cyberbullying they suffered on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit. He wrote that they believe such content “crosses the line into criticism.”
“Ken was a public figure and was subject to a tremendous amount of public scrutiny,” he wrote. “Ken reported. I reported. Videos were reported. Comments were reported. Posts were reported. And more often than not, the response we got was: ‘No violations.’ This is the problem I want to change.”
Blanchard continued: “Being a public figure doesn’t mean you stop being human. Public figures read the comments. They see the videos. They have children. They have parents. They have families. They experience the consequences of what happens online. Fame does not erase humanity.”
Urker, a father of a daughter named Aurora from Blanchard, was found dead Thursday in Raceland, Louisiana. He was 34 years old. Capt. Brennan Matherne of the Lafourche County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement: Diversity“Today, at 18.15, we responded to a call to a house at 107 Double H Drive Lot 4 in Raceland. 34-year-old Kenan Ürker was found dead at the scene. We are currently continuing the death investigation.”
“Ken recently died after a suspected overdose,” Blanchard wrote in the petition. “We do not know at this time whether the overdose was intentional, and I will not speculate on circumstances that have not yet been determined.”
Urker appeared on the reality series “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup,” which aired for two seasons on Lifetime.