14-year-old rapper and child influencer Lil Tay, who had seized the attention of millions of internet users during her peak in 2018, is reportedly dead.
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Her family posted the news of Lil Tay’s death on her Instagram account on 9 August 2023. According to the post, her 21-year-old brother, Jason Tian, had also died.
The post also urged the fans of Lil Tay to respect her family’s privacy as they grieve the “overwhelming loss” of the two deceased siblings and that the circumstances surrounding their deaths are still under investigation.
In Case You Didn’t Know Who Lil Tay Was, Here’s a Summary of Her Viral (Albeit Brief) Internet Career.
Claire Eileen Qi Hope was only nine years old at the beginning of her rise to fame.
She first released video skits on Instagram back in 2017. However, she only gained significant traction in 2018 after skits of her flaunting designer clothes and being inside luxury vehicles seized the attention of millions of internet users.
After her initial success, Claire also began to post rap music videos on YouTube under the internet alias of Lil Tay, which garnered her even more success and notoriety on the internet.
However, the profane lyrics in Lil Tay’s rap videos and her “constant flexing” of designer goods were a cause for concern for many viewers, who were worried about how it would affect her growth as an impressionable young child.
Her mother, Angela Tian, faced heavy criticism for supporting her daughter’s videos despite their use of crude language and was allegedly fired from her real estate job.
In June 2018, Claire was court-ordered to live with her father, Christopher John Hope, following a custody battle between him and Tian.
Her father, who worked as an attorney, shared in an interview with Hollywood Life magazine that he “disagreed with most of (his daughter’s) social media activity” and “took legal steps to stop things which (he) felt were dangerous to her physical and mental health and to her future”.
Since then, Lil Tay has no longer made any posts on her Instagram from 2018, with the only exception being the announcement of her alleged death.
Who Was Jason Tian, Lil Tay’s Deceased Brother?
Jason Tian, Claire’s half-brother, had tried to kickstart his own rap career under the name Rycie. After facing little success in his endeavour, Jason focused on supporting his sister’s growing career instead.
A 2018 video posted on Twitter by fellow Youtuber Keemstar revealed that Jason Tian was responsible for helping Claire develop her Lil Tay persona that gained her internet fame. In the video, he told Claire to sound “more ignorant” in her videos.
Lil Tay being coached what to say by her brother… SAD! pic.twitter.com/lJi7o2AXnp
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) May 21, 2018
Mystery Continues to Surround Lil Tay’s Death
In an interview with Insider, Claire’s father allegedly told the magazine that he could not comment further on the Instagram post announcing her death. He also declined to answer whether his daughter could possibly be alive.
Claire’s former manager Harry Tsang also told Insider that he could neither confirm nor deny that Claire had passed away.
In an even stranger turn of events, The Los Angeles Police Department had no information on an investigation into the death of anyone named Claire Hope. Claire moved to Los Angeles in 2018 to further her influencer career.
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