Dead or alive?
No, we are not referencing a game. Neither are we talking about a movie.
And we are most definitely not talking about any magician pulling some jaw-dropping stunts.
We are talking about the sensational young influencer Lil Tay.
Lil Tay was reported dead earlier this week, but in a twist of events, she appears to be very much alive.
Here is what happened.
Lil Tay Is Reportedly Not Dead
Not too long ago, the news of Lil Tay’s death rocked the world.
The 14-year-old influencer known for her foul-mouth antics and flaunting her family’s wealth was no more.
At least, that was what people worldwide believed after her Instagram account posted about her death.
But it turns out that it might not be true after all.
After the sad news broke, Lil Tay’s father and former manager refused to confirm the news of her passing.
The Guardian reported that Lil Tay’s former manager, Harry Tsang, had asked for “cautious consideration” in response to the news of Lil Tay’s death.
He said that he “cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family” when interviewed by Insider.
Lil Tay’s father, Christopher Hope, also remained tight-lipped about his daughter’s condition. According to Insider, he declined to answer questions about whether she was alive.
Now, news outlet TMZ reports that Lil Tay is not dead.
In a statement made by Lil Tay’s family to TMZ, the young star says that she wants to “make it clear that [her] brother and [her] are safe and alive”.
However, Lil Tay revealed that she was “completely heartbroken and struggling even to find the right words to say” due to this fake death fiasco.
According to her, it was a “very traumatizing 24 hours” as she was constantly “bombarded with endless heartbreaking and tearful phone calls from loved ones, all while trying to sort out this mess”.
Why, then, was there public news about her death on the young star’s Instagram account?
It turns out that this was the malicious doing of a hacker.
Apart from sharing with TMZ that she is alive, Lil Tay divulged that her “Instagram account was compromised by a 3rd party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumours” about the star.
Well, it looks like even top stars cannot escape the possibility of being hacked and falling prey to ill-intentioned people.
At least this hacker didn’t use the young star’s name to scam people of money, as an impersonator of local actor Desmond Tan did.