LIL Tay's brother was the only person with access to her Instagram page and is almost certainly the person behind the statement falsely claiming the teen rapper had died, ex-managers of the star allege.
Tay, 14, was reported to have passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in an oddly-worded, unsigned statement published on her official Instagram page on Wednesday morning.
The statement claimed that Tay's brother - who was not named but later identified as 23-year-old Jason Tian - had also recently passed away.
No further information was shared but the author of the post claimed the matter was under investigation.
Police departments where her parents live in LA and Vancouver denied any knowledge of their deaths and insisted no investigation was ongoing.
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Adding to the speculation was Tay's father, Christopher Hope, who strangely declined to comment on whether his daughter was alive or dead and refused to clarify who was responsible for uploading the statement.
Then, on Thursday, amid a torrent of media attention and mounting suspicions, Tay released a statement to TMZ confirming that she and her brother are both alive and reports of their deaths had been the result of a malicious Instagram hack.
Harry Tsang, a former manager of Tay's, told The U.S. Sun on Thursday he'd suspected all along the news of Tay and Jason's deaths was a hoax.
He, however, said he was almost certain that Jason was behind the elaborate and distasteful stunt - likely motivated by money and "clout."
"It is Jason," alleged Tsang. "Jason always had full access to the Instagram account and everything you see on it is all Jason.
"The 'hack' was Jason, the statement was Jason, I'm sure about that.
"He was crazy [...] he was a pain in the a**," Tsang added, characterizing Jason as someone always willing to go to the extreme for money and attention.
"I didn't believe it for one second. I wasn't going to until I saw a death certificate.
"When I called the family's handler and they couldn't confirm whether or not she'd really passed I knew it was fake. I knew something was up."
A second former manager of Tay's, who wished to remain anonymous, independently corroborated that Jason had total control of his sister's social pages and also cast doubt on the pair's hacking claims.
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"I'm shocked but honestly I'm not surprised that this was fake, given previous interactions [with Jason] and previous incidents," said the insider.
Both Tsang and the anonymous source referenced abuse allegations made by Jason against Tay's father as justification for their beliefs.
A TELLING PAST
Jason launched a GoFundMe titled "Save Tay from a Life of Abuse" in 2021, in which he claimed his sister was "fighting for her life, future, and freedom," after being "physically and mentally" abused by her "absentee" dad who was seeking full custody and control of her earnings.
It was the second time Hope had been accused of abuse.
In 2018, a series of posts accusing him of abusing Tay were posted to her Instagram page and later deleted. The family denied authoring the posts and claimed they'd been hacked by an unknown third party.
Hope denied all allegations and insisted he was seeking custody of Tay to stop things that he felt were "dangerous to her physical and mental health and her future" and to stop people who were attempting to exploit her for money.
Both Tsang and the anonymous source said the allegations made by Jason against Hope were completely fabricated.
The unnamed source added: "My experiences with Jason make me question the legitimacy of the hack claim, knowing what I know about the abuse allegations."
The source further claimed they believe the potential motivation for faking Tay's death, should that prove to be the case, would simply be for attention and publicity, which has been received in droves over the last 24 hours.
"I think this is a human problem," they said. "I think we get very caught up in needing attention, satisfaction, and engagement from others.
"We all have it and on social media, that habit is worse for some than others.
"Some of us can get by in life with just a dose of human experience in the real world. And some need to get it all from social media [...] but then there are also some people who have a dangerous level of needing it.
"And if it isn't a hack, that sort of unfortunate because it could be from that exact need to get a little bit of what everyone else calls clout but you know what, what would really is like a mental health issue - the needing constant attention and needing some type of engagement to feel satisfied."
LIL TAY CLAIMS HACK
In a statement to TMZ on Thursday, Tay assured she and her brother were alive and well, insisting their account had been hacked and used to spread "jarring misinformation."
"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," the teen's statement read.
"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.'"
Tay offered no explanation why it took her 24 hours to debunk the death claim but the bogus statement that kickstarted the rumour has since been deleted.
Another former manager of Tay's, Alex Gelbard, told The U.S. Sun he was relieved that Tay was okay.
"I'm relieved she's alive and I hope she's well," said Gelbard.
"I also hope that someone responsible - whether family or management or even herself - now has control over her page so something like this cannot happen again."
Tsang, meanwhile, claimed that in 2019 he was involved in talks to land Lil Tay a record deal.
The negotiations were geared towards relaunching her career, months after she vanished from social media amid a custody dispute between her parents.
However, he says the deal collapsed because Jason refused to give up sole access to her Instagram account.
Tsang said: "Before the pandemic, in 2019, my music partner and I went to Vancouver to negotiate a record deal and mediate between Tay's parents so she could sign it. We initially reached an agreement on how to bring Lil Tay back.
"Her dad didn't want it to be raunchy and her mom agreed. One of the things inside the agreement was that Jason had to surrender the Instagram and instead, it was going to be co-managed by the parents and her team.
"But Jason disagreed with the whole thing and went haywire and the deal collapsed.
"My music partner even offered him money to give up the account - 50 or 60 grand something like that - but he refused," Tsang added, claiming that Jason didn't want to give up the power and control he had over his sister.
Tsang further claimed Tay's family was reckless with money and said he believes her death may have been staged as an elaborate way to regenerate interest in Tay's brand.
Requests to comment with Tay's parents and Jason Tian have so far gone unanswered.
DEATH SCARE
The scandal involving Tay began yesterday afternoon with a strange and unattributed statement.
"It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire’s sudden and tragic passing," began the statement.
"We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain.
"This outcome was entirely unexpected and has left us all in shock. Her brother’s passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief."
The statement offered no information as to where and when Tay and her brother reportedly passed away, only sharing that the circumstances surrounding their deaths are "still under investigation."
Both Tsang and Tay's anonymous ex-manager immediately poured doubt on the claims, insisting the statement appeared to be fake.
A former close friend of the girl, fellow controversial social media personality Woah Vicky, also told The U.S. Sun she was suspicious of the post.
"I think it's kind of weird how all of a sudden that her brother and her pass away. I don't know, but the text on Instagram doesn't really seem real," she said Wednesday night.
"I mean, we haven't seen her on Instagram [since 2018], we haven't seen anyone that has taken a picture with her - you know how celebrities will sometimes get spotted and get asked for a picture - and we haven't seen none of that for years, but then all of a sudden, 'Oh, her and her brother are dead,' that just doesn't seem right."
The U.S Sun spoke with Vicky again on Thursday afternoon when the claim was debunked.
She said she "thanked God" that Tay was safe and said she's unsure whether she believes the account was hacked or not.
"I don't know honestly, but maybe [she wasn't hacked]," said Vicky, adding that whoever is behind the stunt is clearly "messed up."
Lil Tay hadn't posted on her Instagram account since June 2018, prior to Wednesday's shock announcement.
Representatives for Meta, Instagram's parent company, have been contacted for comment to clarify whether Tay's account was hacked.
CONTROVERSIAL STAR
The teen rose to viral fame in 2017 when she was just nine years old, becoming known for expletive-filed Instagram videos depicting her waiving wads of cash and claiming to lead a lavish hip-hop lifestyle.
The self-proclaimed "youngest flexer of the century" was associated with a number of prominent rappers, including the late XXXTentacion and Chief Keef.
She suddenly vanished from the internet five years ago amid a custody battle between her parents, while suspicious allegations appeared online about her family situation and safety.
In June 2018, Lil Tay’s Instagram feed was wiped and the words “help me” were posted to her story, sparking concerns of a potential kidnapping.
Then, a few months later, a series of posts accusing her father, Christopher Hope, of abuse, were posted to the page in an apparent hack.
In a phone interview with The Daily Beast at the time, Tay said: "Right now I’m in a bad situation and I don’t want to talk about these things.
"[My dad has] filed something to the court and the court ordered us to go back here, and he said that I was in danger and stuff.
"He was threatening to arrest — to have my mom arrested if we didn’t go back," she added.
"I didn’t see him for multiple years. He never saw me for so long, it’s obvious he just came back because he wants money.”
Tay’s success has largely been credited to her older brother, Jason.
He was accused in 2019 of exploiting his sister by forcing her to perform in the videos and coaching her on what to say.
