Key Points
- News of Lil Tay’s apparent death spread on Thursday after an Instagram post mourned her “sudden and tragic passing.”
- A day later, a letter sent to TMZ by the teen star’s family claimed she was alive.
- Questions are being raised as to whether the seemingly fake death notice was a publicity stunt.
A day after an Instagram post announced her “sudden and tragic passing,” controversial teen internet personality Lil Tay has reportedly issued a statement insisting that she is, in fact, alive.
The 14-year-old Canadian social media star and rapper ascended to viral fame as a braggadocious nine-year-old. She rejected widely publicised claims of her death, saying her Instagram account had been hacked and used to spread “jarring misinformation,” according to a statement her family reportedly provided to Hollywood gossip media outlet TMZ on Friday.
Lil Tay’s since-deleted death notice, broadcast to the four million followers of her official Instagram account on Thursday morning, claimed that her legal name was Claire Hope, and that her brother, 21-year-old Jason Tian, had also died in circumstances that were under investigation.
The post read: “It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire’s sudden and tragic passing. This outcome was entirely unexpected and has left us all in shock. Her brother’s passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief.
“During this time of immense sorrow,” it continued, “we kindly ask for privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss, as the circumstances surrounding Claire and her brother’s passing are still under investigation.”
About 24 hours later, TMZ published an article citing a statement sent from Lil Tay’s family on her behalf, which read: “I want to make it clear that my brother and I are safe and alive, but I’m completely heartbroken, and struggling to even find the right words to say.”
“It’s been a very traumatising 24 hours. All day yesterday, I was bombarded with endless heartbreaking and tearful phone calls from loved ones all while trying to sort out this mess.
“My Instagram account was compromised by a third party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumours regarding me, to the point that even my name was wrong. My legal name is Tay Tian, not ‘Claire Hope’.”
In a statement to Hollywood gossip media outlet TMZ, Lil Tay’s family wrote that she and her brother “are safe and alive”. Source: Instagram / @liltay
Lil Tay rose to viral celebrity status in the late 2010s, garnering millions of Instagram followers off the back of content that mostly showed the self-described “world’s youngest flexer” performing wealth-centric and age-inappropriate stunts – such as driving a Rolls Royce, smoking cannabis, and palm-swiping hundred-dollar bills to the ground.
Suspicions had already started circulating regarding the veracity of her death notice after police in Vancouver, where the 14-year-old was believed to be living, told media on Thursday that they had not received any reports of her or her brother dying, saying “we are not aware and are not investigating.” Both her father and former manager also refused to confirm or deny her death, with the latter recommending “cautious consideration” in handling the news.
Instagram’s parent company, Meta, declined to comment on whether the owner of Lil Tay’s account had reported a hack, according to American outlet ABC News. The New York Post reported that while Lil Tay’s former manager, Harry Tsang, had not reached out to the internet star, he thought the hacking was “fake.”
“I don’t believe anything that they say about the hacking,” he said.
Tsang cast further doubts around the details of the saga in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying that “The actions of Liltay’s [sic] brother, renowned for his propensity for extreme measures, lead me to hypothesize an alternative motive behind this occurrence.
“It is conceivable that the intention behind these events could be rooted in an endeavour to illicitly extract funds from devoted supporters and unwitting bystanders.”
Many commentators across social media are now wondering whether the seemingly fake death announcement was a publicity stunt, either by Lil Tay’s camp or some exploitative third party. Fuelling these suspicions is the fact a cryptocurrency coin named after Lil Tay launched on the blockchain network BNB Smart Chain less than 24 hours after the news of her alleged death broke.
Tsang, who was at one point planning to launch a Lil Tay cryptocurrency, denied any connection to the newly released coin, labelling it a “scam” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“One hundred percent not me,” Tsang told Insider. “I gave a warning to everyone already. That is not us. We just took down the website and everything.”
