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The family of social media star Swavy are demanding an apology from Wendy Williams over how she reported on his death.
It follows backlash online against the TV host for a ‘classless’ and ‘hateful’ segment during her show last week, mocking the rising influencer before talking about his murder.
TikTok star Swavy, real name Matima Miller, died last Monday after being shot in Delaware. He was 19.
The mother and brother of Swavy – real name Matima Miller – have hit out at Wendy Williams after her ‘hateful’ reporting on his death last week
Miller’s mom Chanell Clark and older brother Rahkim Clark spoke to TMZ, expressing their hurt at how Williams dealt with the sensitive subject.
‘As a black woman and as a black mother, you didn’t have any empathy at all,’ Rahkim said.
Rahkim also hit out at the talk show host for not getting the facts right and painting Miller as a ‘thug’ and someone ‘trying to be in the streets’.
Miller’s mom then talked about the harrowing experience of watching her son die and how it ‘mentally messes you up’.
Miller’s mom Chanell Clark and older brother Rahkim Clark spoke to TMZ , expressing their hurt about how Williams dealt with the sensitive subject
‘Wendy Williams as a mother, how do you put a child out there like that. Nobody knew him like that.’ Chanell said before demanding an apology from Wendy
‘Wendy Williams as a mother, how do you put a child out there like that. Nobody knew him like that… My son shouldn’t have been shot down in the street like that for someone to recognize who he is… I deserve an apology.
‘But at this point, I’m so pissed off… because you did him like like… I’m looking for an apology. I do want an apology. But at the same time, I’m pissed with Wendy.’
Williams, 56, discussed Miller’s death on her Hot Topics segment last week, but before revealing he had died, said she had no idea who he was.
‘Classless’: It follows backlash online against the TV host for her ‘classless’ and ‘hateful’ segment during her show last week, mocking the rising influencer before talking about his murder
‘I have no idea who this person is’: Wendy Williams has sparked outrage after leading a segment discussing the death of TikTok star Matima Miller by insisting she had no idea who he was
‘I have no idea who this person is… neither does one person in this building,’ Williams started off the segment, before asking the audience to clap if they knew who he was.
After just a small handful of people responded with applause, she continued: ‘Well, he’s a TikTok star. He’s got more followers than me. 2.5 million!’
‘On Tik Tok, but on Instagram you have more followers!’ her producer, Norman Baker, clarified, earning cheers and applause from the audience.
‘Well, as my son Kevin would say, no one uses Instagram anymore. And as far as TikTok, I don’t use that at all. I don’t know what that is, I don’t want to be involved. So, here he is,’ she said, gazing at a photo of the social media star on her screen.
Tragedy: Matima Miller, pictured, passed away at age 19 during a daylight shooting earlier this week
‘You have more followers!’ Producer Norman Baker stepped in to tell Wendy she had more followers on Instagram than Matima
‘He’s got more followers than me’: Williams was surprised to see the 19-year-old had more TikTok followers than her
Hateful: Williams was slammed online for treating the teen’s death like ‘funny gossip’
Outraged: Viewers took to Twitter to air their grievances with Wendy following her segment
After a pause and some laughter from the audience, she continued: ‘He’s 19, and he was murdered Monday morning.’ The audience groaned in response to the news.
The manner of the reporting did not sit well with many fans, who took to Twitter to air their grievances with Wendy.
‘She is so hateful. Like, she basically treated the announcement of his death like it was funny gossip. Why disparage him? Why even talk about him at all if you and your audience are that removed from even knowing who he is?’ one person wrote.
‘Did she really need to look him up and down like that before breaking the news that he was murdered? Like she’s the only one who knew where this was going and she still chose to sprinkle a little nasty on it first,’ @ClassActKelz tweeted.
‘Lemme just say sum bc yall really out here being stupid, it is NEVER OKAY to joke about someone’s death. You are just hurting people and being so disgusting and disrespectful more than you are making people laugh,’ @poblibioxmulti tweeted.
‘I’m still not over Wendy Williams horrible journalism like wow. Prayers up to the family of that young man!’ @BG_THEGREAT tweeted.
‘So, admittedly I’ve never heard of Swavy. But clearly he was well respected in the TikTok community & it sucks that his life was taken at such a young age. But Wendy Williams/crew starting off by saying how much more famous she is on Instagram & THEN following up on his death??’ @ken10drawsstuff tweeted, along with a GIF from Orange Is The New Black with the line, ‘That’s mad disrespect right there.
‘y’all seen that video of wendy williams talking on that tiktok star wavy’s death? it’s so gross,’ @mariamshawngela tweeted.
The segment occurred just days after the death of social media sensation Matima, who went by Babyface.S on TikTok and posted dance videos and meme skits to his millions of followers.
Police were called to a shooting at the 700 block of Elbert Place in the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington at about 10:42 am Monday morning.
Miller was found with a gunshot wound and was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries.
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