Gypsy Rose Blanchard launches anti-cyberbullying and harassment petition after Ken Urker death
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has launched a petition following the death of her daughter’s father Ken Urker at just 34.
Ken tragically passed away on his birthday (1 October) after cops from Lafourche Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at around 6.15pm and found him ‘dead upon arrival'.
An investigation has since been launched, with Lafourche Sheriff’s Office telling LADbible in a statement that ‘thus far in the investigation, we have discovered no signs of foul play’.
On Friday (2 October), Blanchard, who shared daughter Aurora Raina with Urker, told PEOPLE that he had died due to an overdose.
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“I don’t know if it was intentional or not,” she said.
"He was not in a good state of mind lately."
She continued: “I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns.”
Following his tragic passing, Blanchard has launched a petition for ‘Kenan’s Law’, which she says will ‘hold social media platforms accountable for how they handle online harassment reports’.
In the petition, which was shared on Change.org, Blanchard wrote: “Ken was a public figure and experienced an enormous amount of public scrutiny.
“Across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit, there was extensive content about him that we believed crossed the line from criticism into targeted harassment and cyberbullying.”
She claims that despite them both repeatedly making reports about the harassment very little was done.
Blanchard said the proposed law was not about ‘silencing criticism or taking away anyone’s freedom of speech’ but said there ‘must also be a distinction between criticism about someone and a sustained pattern of conduct that may violate harassment or safety policies’.
In the petition, Blanchard makes a series of recommendations for how platforms handle harassment reports, including ‘human review’, ‘meaningful appeals’, and ‘pattern-based reporting’.
Sharing the petition onto her Instagram page, Blanchard wrote: “Ken’s passing has made me determined to turn pain into purpose. I cannot change what happened, but I can advocate for a better system for the next person who feels like no one is listening.
“Please sign and share the petition to support Kenan’s Law.”
At the time of writing, the e-petition has more than 4,000 signatures.
Gypsy Rose and Ken met almost a decade ago
Blanchard met Urker while she was in prison for the second-degree murder of her mother Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard in 2015.
Blanchard said he reached out to her in 2017 after watching the documentary about her life Mommy Dead and Dearest on HBO.
From there, the pair struck up a friendship that later turned romantic with Urker popping the question the following year.
However, the relationship broke down in 2019 and Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Anderson while still incarcerated in 2022.
After the pair divorced and Blanchard was released from prison in 2023, she and Urker rekindled their relationship and went on to welcome their little girl, Aurora Raina Urker in December 2024.
In a touching statement following his death, Blanchard said Urker was her ‘soulmate’.
She added: “Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved. He will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase."
Claire Reid