In a surprising turn of events, the young rapper known as Lil Tay has confirmed she is still alive, contradicting reports that she had died in a car accident. The 14-year-old, who has also made a name for herself on social media, shared this news with the world today, addressing rumors of her demise that had been circulating since yesterday.
Lil Tay spoke to TMZ to clear up the confusion, explaining that a false announcement about her death was shared because someone had hacked into her social media account. This hoax left her feeling very upset and scared. She stressed that she and her brother are both safe and well, but the fake news of their death has been very hard on her: “I need everyone to know that my brother and I are okay, but this has been a really scary and sad time for me. I’ve been getting so many calls from people who care about me, all while trying to fix this huge mistake.
“Someone got into my Instagram and told everyone these scary lies about me, even getting my name wrong. My real name is Tay Tian, not ‘Claire Hope.'”
The false statement that was shared on her Instagram account claimed that Lil Tay and her brother, Jason Tian, had died unexpectedly, causing a lot of shock and sadness. The post seemed to be from a family member, saying, “Losing them has been so hard, and we didn’t see it coming at all. It’s a very sad time for us, and we’re trying to understand how this could have happened. We’re asking for some privacy as we deal with this huge loss. We’ll always remember Claire and miss her so much.”
Lil Tay hadn’t been seen much online since 2018, which was around the same time her family was going through a difficult custody battle. Her mom and dad, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope, were fighting over her, which made things tough for Lil Tay.
She was originally from Canada but moved to Los Angeles when she was just 9 years old to grow her social media presence. Her videos often included her using bad words and being mean to people, which caught a lot of attention online. She quickly gained over 3.3 million followers on Instagram and was on her way to becoming a huge internet sensation.
However, in May 2018, there were concerns that her older brother Jason was taking advantage of her. Videos surfaced showing him telling her what to say in her controversial videos. A family spokesperson told Buzzfeed News that Jason was trying to change Lil Tay’s image and promised that she would be coming back with new content after some of her posts were taken down from Instagram and YouTube.
