Food blogger Darius Williams, aka Darius Cooks, broke down in tears in a viral video at Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston on Aug. 11.
Cooks claimed he spent 2 days as a teacher at the high school where seniors can’t read.
“I literally broke down in the middle of class because I’m teaching seniors. These kids are leaving high school and going to college, hopefully, after they finish,” he said, as tears streamed down his face.
Cooks said he asked the students to read two paragraphs and write a sentence about what they read.
“I basically completed the sentence for them in the model. These are 17 and 18-year-old kids, and they couldn’t fill in four words. Four words! … I gave them the answers before we had the problem and they couldn’t do it,” he cried.
However, social media users who are familiar with Cooks’ antics questioned his teaching credentials. They nicknamed him “Darius Crooks” in 2022.
One person wrote: “IKYFL. What is he teaching? Scamming 101?”
Another person wrote: “Darius Crooks rebranding as a teacher concerned about the literacy crisis as if he wasn’t slinging refurbished George Foremans must mean we’ve reached a new realm in the matrix.”
A third person commented, “They let Darius teach?!? He must be a sub because I don’t see him going through the process of getting nobody’s teacher’s license.”
A fourth person wrote: “I gotta ask, is he in the classroom purely as a new hustle for content? That man will run any and every play to make a dolla!”
According to Atlanta Black Star, Cooks was under investigation and has a history of scam allegations.
In 2019, he agreed to pay $145,750 in restitution and penalties to the state of Georgia for scamming people through his credit repair service.
“The Better Business Bureau of Metro Atlanta warned people about his enterprise, Darius Cooks LLC, in 2021 amid reports that cookware, cookbooks, and dining experiences were not honored after payment. The organization’s statement read, ‘BBB advises consumers to use caution when doing business with DariusCooks, LLC.'”