Lil Tay’s Death Hoax: Meta Confirms Her Instagram Account Really Was Hacked!

There have been a lot of doubts about Lil Tay’s death hoax story this week. And now, we’re getting some more details about the situation that may change a few opinions on what really happened!

As you know, a post appeared on the 14-year-old social media star’s Instagram account on Wednesday that announced the “sudden and tragic passing” of her and her brother, Jason Tian. The statement also claimed their deaths were under investigation.

This news shocked fans at first. However, people soon became skeptical about the announcement, especially when it seemed no one could verify whether she was actually dead! When outlets reached out to her former manager Harry Tsang, he was unable to “confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement.” Lil Tay’s dad, Chris Hope, even would not confirm her passing!

What really had folks questioning the legitimacy of the death announcement? The Los Angeles Police Department and Vancouver Police Department had no investigation underway for anyone by the name of Claire Hope, Lil Tay’s purported legal name.

Given these details, it’s no wonder everyone was uncertain if she was really dead! Lil Tay ended up coming forward 24 hours later to confirm she was alive and had been hacked “by a 3rd party.” However, not everyone is buying this – including her ex-manager. Tsang told Fox News Digital he believes this was nothing more than a publicity stunt orchestrated by her brother to get Lily Tay’s name back in the headlines.

But the boyfriend of Lil Tay’s mom Angela Tian doesn’t think the death hoax was a prank or PR stunt — at least, one not masterminded by the teen. Chuck Wigg told Dailymail.com on Friday he’s glad the two siblings are OK, but is “angry at the situation” right now, saying:

“Tay and Jason are alive and well and are living in LA with their mother, Angela. I don’t know if was PR stunt, it took me by surprise. I don’t know what’s going on. The internet, a lot of it you can’t believe. It wasn’t a PR stunt by Tay. Jason told me her account was hacked and I’ve got to believe them.”

When the death announcement came out, Wigg recalled being “blindsided” like everyone else:

“I was just as shocked as anyone, even more so when I first heard the news. I was at work when a family member of mine texted me a story about Tay’s passing. I was devastated as you can imagine.”

He immediately began to reach out to Angela to find out if the news was true. However, he never received a response. It wasn’t until the following day that he got a text informing him the story was false, and Jason then told him the account was “hacked” by someone. As for whether this was a tactic to get Lil Tay back in the spotlight? Wigg doesn’t believe she had anything to do with this but refused to comment if her brother was responsible for what happened:

“I don’t know, I’m not going to comment on that. I really don’t know. Tay is an awesome child…What goes through a kids mind, you don’t know. Jason told me her account was hacked which is entirely possible.”

But innerestingly enough, Wigg revealed that the family has been in Los Angeles since January and Lil Tay has been “working and recording music”:

“Tay is gifted if anyone can make it, it’s her. She’s been focused on her music, singing and acting, she can play the piano and guitar. She speaks and sings in Mandarin. I’m relieved that they are alive but angry at the entire situation. I’m just glad they are okay.”

Whoa. Could this have been a stunt to help her music once it releases? Although some may believe the teenager orchestrated her own death hoax to gain relevancy again, Instagram’s parent company has come forward to set the record straight. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed on Saturday to TMZ that they had to help Lil Tay get back her account after someone hacked into her account on Wednesday and posted the fake death announcement. So she wasn’t lying???

Not only that, but the outlet now revealed that a person claiming to be a rep for Lil Tay’s family reached out to them shortly after the shocking post went up. They gave TMZ a full press release, which claimed the teen and her brother died at their mom’s home in Vancouver. However, the outlet was skeptical. And when TMZ contacted family members and the police in the city, no one knew the siblings had passed away. Ultimately, they didn’t run the phony story from the press release and later received the statement from Lil Tay, which stated she was alive.

Wow…

These supposed hackers really went all out to make this death story seem legit. But just because Meta confirmed the account was hacked, we doubt this will sway the opinions of those who believed this was a PR stunt from the beginning. What do YOU think happened, Perezcious readers? Do you still think this was a publicity stunt? Or do you believe this was nothing more than a cruel prank someone tried to pull? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via Zach Sang Show/YouTube]