Lil Tay Alive After All
Lil Tay is alive, after all. The child internet celebrity, now fifteen years old, was thought to be dead yesterday when a post on her Instagram account said that she and her brother had died. There were irregularities in the story, though, such as her father being unwilling to confirm her death and her former manager warning that “cautious consideration” was appropriate; the police also had no knowledge of the incident despite the post saying that an investigation was ongoing. Today, Lil Tay’s family sent a response to TMZ in which she announced that she and her brother are alive and blamed the hoax on her Instagram account being hacked; she now says she has her account back, and the post announcing her death has been removed.
“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 traumatizing 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 3rd party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumors regarding me, to the point that even my name was wrong. My legal name is Tay Tian, not ‘Claire Hope.’”
Thank God the kids are okay. The death of any child is a tragedy, and the outcome that sees these two unharmed is the best one. But the story is fishy as hell. It’s possible the account was hacked; it happens all the time. But, as TMZ points out, why did it take Lil Tay and her family so long to reveal that she was alive, especially as they were aware of what was happening? Why was her father so unsure yesterday? Combine this with the fact that her brother, who is said to run her Instagram account, has been accused of using it to spread false information, particularly about Tay’s father, and it casts doubt on the hacking story. If Lil Tay suddenly comes out with a single in the next few days, I think we can draw some conclusions.
Comments (3)
… um, who is Lil Tay? Is her name Lil like in Lilly or is a nick name that’s short for Little?
Apparently she became internet-famous a few years ago for cursing and pretending to be a wealthy rapper on Instagram or something. I never heard of her before Krista told me about this story.
When pranks go too far.
It’s starting to happen more and more.