If you’re an avid social media user, chances are that Lil Tay is not an unknown name to you. The American-Canadian girl infamously rose to fame at only nine years old for her foul-mouthed rap lyrics and videos, which had her wearing designer clothes, holding generous packs of money, and getting out of luxurious cars while throwing beef towards other internet celebrities.
While stirring the internet waters with controversy wasn’t hard for Lil Tay, her rise to fame hasn’t been without turbulence. She’s had an on-and-off presence on the internet since 2018, due to the legal battle her parents were having against each other, among other issues. There was also a 2023 death hoax which confused people no end, so when Lil Tay revealed that she had a tumor on her heart and required urgent surgery, many people couldn’t help but disbelieve her.
So what exactly is going on with Lil Tay? Are her health issues real? What about her infamous death hoax, and her turbulent relationship with her family? Stay with us to find out!
Lil Tay’s Health Update
Lil Tay hasn’t been the most active influencer since her rise to fame, but she always manages to re-enter the public’s consciousness in the most eye-catching of ways. Nonetheless, her social media comeback in 2024 brought some unexpected news about her health, which has caused mixed reactions among both her fans and detractors.
As her X, formerly Twitter account posted on 11 September of the year, there was some ‘devastating news’ about Tay. In an update one day later, the account revealed Tay was in an intensive care unit after being diagnosed with a heart tumor. Two days later, Tay’s Instagram account posted a video of an unconscious Tay lying in a hospital bed, with the caption revealing that she’d had successful ‘open heart surgery’, and thanked the medical team who performed the operation. The account also thanked her followers for the ‘love, prayers, and positive energy’ people sent her way during that time.
More updates followed, including a photo taken in late September, which showed Lil Tay with a pained expression as health professionals removed her chest tube, according to her X account. However, at no point was it revealed where Tay was hospitalized, or the names of the health professionals treating her.
Some fans believe Lil Tay is preparing to drop new music after she changed her layout on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/78n6PMMzJc
— Pop Flop (@PopFlopHQ) November 10, 2024
People’s Reactions
When a famous social media person or celebrity goes through health complications, it’s not unusual for both fans and non-fans to send good wishes their way. However, the revelation of Lil Tay’s health was received with worry but considerable disbelief among her followers, and almost everyone who cared due to the still-fresh memory of Lil Tay’s death hoax in 2023.
The first X post about her illness was marked with a community note which said ‘Lil Tay rent is due again. Don’t fall for this.’ Lil Tay’s account later slammed the note, but many people were still hesitant to believe she was in intensive care, despite the videos of her ultrasound tests. According to a health specialist who examined the images posted on Lil’s X account, she could have been suffering from a benign Rhabdomyoma.
The mixed reactions to Lil Tay’s health issues increased when her new song “Growing Up” dropped in early October, less than a month after she first revealed her illness. In response to the disbelief and criticism, Lil Tay shared a haters-slamming video in which she accused others of hypocrisy for reacting negatively towards her song, while in exchange, others reacted positively when singer Halsey revealed her lupus diagnosis and new music on the same day in 2024.
Death Hoax
While it’s up to people to believe Lil Tay’s heart tumor diagnosis or not, no one can blame those who distrust her due to the previous, infamous death hoax she was involved in.
Everything happened in August 2023, when her Instagram account announced that the then-14-year-old girl, who was referred to as Claire, died alongside her older brother Tian. As expected, the initial reaction was shock and sadness, but as hours went on, people grew increasingly suspicious of the veracity announcement, as no one could confirm that Tay and her brother were indeed dead.
To further add to the mystery, the Daily Beast directly contacted Vancouver’s police just to be told that there hadn’t been any reports of deaths under their names, contrary to the statement about it being an ongoing ‘investigation’. Tay’s former representative, Harry Tsang was unable to confirm the statement. At the same time, her father, Christopher Hope, told The New York Post and Business Insider that he couldn’t confirm or deny the statement.
It was a messy and confusing situation from the beginning, so when Tay’s account revealed that neither she nor her brother were dead but that she was hacked, chaos ensued.
The Aftermath
According to an Instagram video Lil Tay shared following the death hoax, everything had been a scheme orchestrated by her father Christopher Hope to allegedly sabotage her career.
In her words, Hope hadn’t been present for most of her life, but came into it when she gained fame, to take her money. She also revealed that her father had put her family through extended periods of abuse by exposing them to the court system when he sued to take custody of her. However, back in 2018, Tay’s father had already denied the money-digger allegations and affirmed that he was fighting for his daughter’s ‘happiness and future’ in response to other people’s intentions of making money out of her.
A couple of days after the death hoax happened, TMZ posted a statement Lil Tay sent them in which she confessed to being ‘heartbroken and traumatized’ at the death hoax incident, and affirmed being unable to communicate with others while her account was hacked. She also revealed that Meta had confirmed that there was something wrong with her account during that time.
To complicate matters further, Vanity Fair posted an article in which someone from Lil Tay’s team named Ken Ross affirmed that her former representative Harry Tsang was involved with the hacking, but which he denied.
What Is Actually Going On With Lil Tay?
Only a month after Lil Tay’s fake death controversy happened, the young rapper released a song named “Sucker 4 Green”. This was the first time in several years that the teen posted music on the internet, as she and her mother had been fighting her father Christopher Hope to retain the rights to her creative freedom and custody.
That said, it’s impossible not to compare Lil Tay’s career moves after her death hoax to the ones following her heart tumor diagnosis in 2024. Internet users have also pointed out the contrast between Lil Tay’s early beefy songs to the emotional “Growing Up”, as years before someone formerly associated with the rapper’s family confirmed that her team planned a change of branding to distance her from her bratty, younger self.
Whether Lil Tay has been telling the truth all along, or this is an intricate public relations stunt is up to people to conclude, but one thing for sure is that the media attention that these situations have brought her has been massive and hard to ignore – be prepared for further revelations!
