Detavio Samuels, the new CEO of Revolt TV wants to make it the world’s largest Black-owned media empire

There’s an African proverb that Detavio Samuels keeps in the back of his mind: Until the lion learns to tell his own story, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. 

“It’s a proverb about how, as long as you don’t control your own narrative, someone is always going to set themselves up to be the victor,” Samuels told Insider. 

He thinks about the proverb often, because “that’s what we’ve had for centuries,” he said. “There are Black stories not being told because the power isn’t with the people who are authentic and inside the culture.” 

On March 3, Samuels, 40, was announced the newest CEO of Revolt TV, the cable network owned by hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, which specializes in creating music-themed content for Black audiences.