Lil Tay Breaks Her Silence on Death Hoax, Parents' Legal Battle

The 16-year-old rapper was the subject of a death hoax before her comeback single dropped.

By Anna Rumer

Controversial rapper and influencer Lil Tay has broken her silence on the death hoax that claimed she had died back in August. In the first in-depth interview since the 16-year-old's death was falsely announced on her Instagram page, Tay opens up to Rolling Stone about what she believes happened as she reveals the details of the heated court battle between her parents, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope, that caused her to vanish from social media in 2018.

Tay had been out of the spotlight for years before an announcement on her Instagram page announced her untimely death at the age of 14 – a falsehood that was cleared up the following day with a statement to TMZ claiming Tay's account had been hacked. When the teen, who is actually 16 years old, then dropped her single "Sucker 4 Green" the next month, fans wondered if the whole thing was just a publicity stunt.

Tay claims to Rolling Stone that her debut single was planned even before the death hoax, saying, "I really wanted to get things going. And this was just something that came out of absolutely nowhere. And I had to clean up." As for who is behind the hoax, Tay, her mother, and her half-brother, Jason, blame her father as well as her former manager, Harry Tsang. Tay claims that her father orchestrated the hoax as a "last resort" to "sabotage" her career, but both Hope and Tsang deny making the post. 

"Somebody has a strategy that a good way to get publicity is to make accusations against me," Hope told the outlet. "They're all false." Hope and Tian were at odds for years over Tay's career after Hope obtained a court order in May 2018 forcing Tay to be brought back to Vancouver from Los Angeles when she began missing too much school.

"She was onstage with a bunch of adults in adult situations at the age of 11, getting in these fights," Tay's estranged father told the outlet, revealing that one of her teachers had approached him with concern over the kind of online content his daughter was in. "That was completely the opposite of what I wanted to happen. I wanted them to find some kind of manager who would give her advice about getting into acting and singing."

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Tian claims Hope refused to sign any contracts in relation to Tay's career and tried to prevent her from posting on social media, accusing him of domestic and sexual abuse, which he denies, calling the allegations "totally and obviously extremely false." In 2020, a judge approved Tian's relocation and support application, meaning Tay could move to Los Angeles with her mother, who was also granted full decision-making authority over Tay.

Despite theories that her own brother had created the death hoax, Tay told Rolling Stone, "There's always going to be conspiracy theories. If you want to make conspiracy theories, I can't stop you." And although she and her brother created the persona of Lil Tay together, she added, "I am the one that's always wanted to become famous. I was the one who had a vision for myself as an artist, and I made it happen."

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