On Sunday, November 9th, 2025, friends and family of Michael Willis Heard, known online as LoveAndLightTV, broke the news that he had passed away. Many online know Heard for his viral meme audios, most notably the one called, "Yes King."

Heard's daughter, Mykel Crumbie, was the first to share her remarks on Heard's passing. "My daddy man.. I'ma miss you so much, king," she wrote in the Facebook post. "This is crazy to me and you really messing up the family with this one."

Heard's death comes after a long lineage of meme prowess in recent years. For better or worse, the internet turned Heard into a viral internet star on TikTok and Twitter / X, placing him in the Mount Rushmore of the controversial meme genre of "Thugposting."

Regardless, in the aftermath of Heard's death, those same "thugposters" appear to be honoring his legacy and sharing sincere obituary posts. Let's explain why and shed some light on LoveAndLightTV's internet and meme legacy.

Who Was Michael Willis Heard, Also Known As 'LoveAndLightTV?'

Michael Willis Heard was an adult content creator with a focus on the gay Black male community. He mostly shared his videos to Twitter / X, although his full videos were shared elsewhere.

Heard was from Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in Glendale, California. Before he started his content career, Heard was a pastor in Columbus, Ohio. In 2020, he was pursuing a PhD.

That info is according to a Q&A he did with some of his fellow "kings" back in 2020. The trio, at the time, were spearheading discourse among Atlanta's gay Black male community. To say Heard was important in the city's LGBTQ+ scene would be an understatement.

What Is The 'Yes King' Meme?

In March 2023, Heard posted a clip from an explicit video he had just filmed with another male creator. It's a graphic shot, showing Heard on the giving end of the interaction. His partner can be heard replying, "Yes, king," to his aggressive pillow talk.

For some reason, meme creators on TikTok discovered the video and decided to "recontextualize" it. The TikTokers isolated the clip's audio and applied it to different videos, in which the exasperated, "Yes, king," soundbite was the punchline.

The meme's viewer is immediately aware that the audio is out of place. Its graphic noises and dialogue are obvious, and that's why it went viral. Using it was an easy way to spread shock media on TikTok without blatantly violating the app's censors.

@itgirlnai Yess king😩😩😩 #fyp#AXERatioChallenge #trending#itgirlnai#10k?#views#school#florida#blowthisup#fypシ゚viral#relatable#fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬

What Are Some Other Michael Willis Heard Memes?

In the following years, dredging up the audios of Heard's adult content became a tried-and-true method for achieving memetic success.

Several soundbites, including "I'm a Lion Pizza Chicken" and "You Digging in Me," were given innocent-enough names that subverted the not-so-innocent nature of their source material. They then spread on TikTok and elsewhere.

Heard then became an icon in the "Thugposting" community: A controversial subset of internet memedom that relies on gay Black male content as a punchline. Other figures of the genre include Dreamybull and Brandon Curington.

All of these men have been the subject of ridicule due to their LGBTQ+ status, Blackness and history of sharing their sexuality's most graphic moments with the wider web.

A lot of people might fold if they became the subject of similar memes, but Heard and others like Dreamybull have also embraced the odd stardom at times.

In one clip from late 2023, Heard and Dreamybull got on an Instagram LIVE and laughed about each other's content.

@bigsosa619 #loveandlighttv #dreamybull #trending #viral #xyzbca ♬ original sound – SoSa

How Has The Internet Reacted To Michael Willis Heard's Death?

Michael Willis Heard was undoubtedly a major figure in internet memes from the 2020s. In many ways, his death is a first for young, edgy internet users who likely haven't experienced the gutwrenching feeling of their favorite poster's passing.

"REST IN PIECE YES KING WE WILL MISS YOU," was the caption of one viral tweet honoring Heard's legacy, notably misspelling "peace" as "piece."

Regardless of age or spelling, the uproar of commemorative posts honoring Heard has been overwhelming. Meme communities across the web have come together to share their favorite moments from Heard's life. "Rest in peace to a real American hero," was the caption of one such post.

https://t.co/9nIXMWjG05 pic.twitter.com/KL1MKuFDP5

— ja-hamon 🪓 (@hoodheresies07) November 10, 2025

@rodent442 Rest In Peace Micheal Heard. #loveandlighttv #fyp ♬ original sound – die

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For the full history of LoveAndLightTV, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.