“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the tragic and sudden death of Claire.” In an Instagram post, relatives of Lil Tay, whose real name is Claire Hope, announced his death on Wednesday August 9. The young North American influencer, who would be around fifteen years old – her exact date of birth is not known – would have died with her brother, add her relatives, who ask for privacy, “the investigation into the circumstances [of their death] being still ongoing”. His “management” confirmed the information to the American magazine Variety.
However, his former manager Harry Tsang called for taking the information “with caution” from Insider. He said he could “neither confirm nor deny the veracity of the family’s statement” on Instagram, “given the complexity of the situation”. Contacted by the media, the father of the teenager did not wish to react. The police in Los Angeles (United States), where she lived a few years ago, and that of Vancouver (Canada), where she grew up, told Insider that they did not have an open investigation into the death of a person named Claire Hope. It’s unclear whether Lil Tay was in either city, however, having failed to feed his social media in five years.
Then nine years old, the young girl had made herself known in 2018 by videos posted on Instagram, where she staged her alleged wealth. Wad of cash in hand, she was showing her dream apartment, addressing Internet users in a crude language inspired by rap: “my toilets cost more than your rent,” she said, or “this bed cost a Lamborghini”. “I’m richer than all of you,” she boasted in front of a sports car she claimed she paid for out of pocket.
Lil Tay, however, seemed to be at the heart of a complex family situation, with parents fighting for his custody and a brother who would have had his hand on his Instagram account – which has more than three million subscribers. The girl has always denied being forced to make these videos. She hadn’t posted since 2018.