This August, the internet was shocked by the news of Lil Tay's death. Now it turns out that the 14-year-old might not be dead at all.
On August 9, reports of Lil Tay's death came pouring in, shocking the internet as the young influencer was only 14-years old. Now, the situation has taken a bizarre but hopeful turn, as the young girl might not be dead after all. It seems all of this might have been a sick strategy by her parents to drum up clout.
The Lil Tay Situation Before Her Reported Death
Claire “Lil Tay” Hope became famous on the internet around 2018. She often showed off money, fancy cars, and expensive things in her videos, bragging about her success. She quickly rose to fame, because she acted older than she really was and used very strong language for a child. In many ways, it was a social media masterclass; she was deliberately acting like someone you love to hate, and many fans couldn't stop watching.
People later found out that her older brother, Jason, was telling her what to do in these videos, which made people worry whether her family might be using her to make money.
There were also concerns about her safety and happiness, which skyrocketed back in 2021, when Lil Tay raised some serious allegations against her father and stepmother.
One of these claims was that Tay's father had requested “custody, money, and control over her career” but by far the worst ones were those were about them being “physically and mentally abusive” towards the young girl.
After the situation was made public by her and her brother Jason, things went rather quiet, until reports of her and her brother's death came pouring in, in August 2023.
Lil Tay: Reports Of Her Death And Doubts
The rumors and reporting on Lil Tay's death started on August 9, when her family made a post on her Instagram claiming that the 14-year-old influencer had died.
This post shocked the internet, as at that time Tay was still just 14-years-old, which her death all the more unexpected. Many people were mourning her death, but just hours after this post was made, people began to question whether her death might have been a publicity stunt planned by her family to catapult the young influencer back into the limelight.
These doubts, regarding her death, spread like wildfire after both the Vancouver and Los Angeles Police Departments denied having any records of her death.
Adding to that, Lil Tay confirmed she is not dead by changing her YouTube Bio, telling people that her parents were lying about her being dead.
The situation became even more crazy, as someone who appears to be her brother made a comment on one of her Instagram posts, stating that this was a desperate attempt by their parents, because they were losing the court case and thereby control over Lil Tay.
So far it is not quite clear whether Lil Tay is actually dead or if it was all just a sick marketing stunt by her (or her parents) to push Lil Tay into the spotlight once more. Considering how her parents were already accused of abusing and exploiting the young social media star, this could turn into one of the most f*cked up stories on social media.