“Corey, you were my brother/best friend/channel partner and one crazy motherf-cker,” wrote Crawford Collins, 23, at the start of his May 12 tribute to Corey La Barrie, his YouTube partner, collaborator, and dear friend. Corey was killed in a car crash on his 25th birthday on Sunday (May 10), and Crawford felt it was time to break his silence on the horrific loss. “From the 1st day, I met you you’ve done nothing but push me to be a better person and help me out any chance you had. Anytime I needed help with a video or had no money to call an uber or needed a place to stay, you were always the 1st one to help me out, and the same would go for any of your friends that needed the same.”
“You are the perfect example of a supportive friend and what everyone is saying about you supports that 1000x over,” continued Crawford, who shared a picture of him and Corey laughing together. “You always lived life to the fullest (even though it often got us into some trouble) and those memories we share I will cherish forever. I’m gonna miss you yelling at me to ‘edit the video!’ or you asking me ‘did you send in the footage?’ and I wish more [than] anything that we could have accomplished all the big plans that we had for the future. But I take comfort in knowing how many people you impacted positively in such a short time, and because of that, your legacy will live forever.”
“I’ve never been much of a writer, and I could speak for hours about how much you’ve impacted me and everyone around you, but I’ll end this one here. You’re a legend bro. Love you always,” concluded a heartbroken Crawford. The two YouTube stars shared a home together (along with influencers JC Caylen and Chelsey Amaro) and started a joint channel (“Corey & Crawford”) in 2019. They had over 100,000 subscribers at the time of Corey’s death.
Corey, who joined the video platform in 2018, was killed on May 10 after getting into a car accident with his friend. His death was confirmed by his brother, Jarrad La Barrie. “My brother Corey passed away last night in a car accident with his drunk friend driving… this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he wrote on Instagram.” The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner told CNN that the crash occurred at the corner of Huston Street and Carpenter Avenue in North Hollywood around 9:39 p.m. local time. The police have yet to officially confirm the identity of the driver in the fatal accident.