Lil Tay’s former manager, Harry Tsang, has weighed in on the confounding claim that she and her brother had not passed away — despite what was published on Instagram — and were instead victims of a hack.
On Wednesday, a statement posted on the social media star’s verified page declared that the 14-year-old and her brother had died — an announcement that sparked speculation among her fans across the web.
By Thursday, a spokesperson for the family reportedly told TMZ that she and her sibling were not, in fact, dead — and that her social media page had been “compromised” by an unidentified assailant.
“I think she’s still alive, and I think it was fake,” Tsang, 32, said in a phone call with The Post on Thursday.
However, Tsang noted that he has not yet attempted to reach out to Lil Tay, and does not intend to.
“I don’t believe anything that they say about the hacking,” he said later in the call. “I’m glad that she’s ok.”
The former manager also offered clarification with regard to comments he made Wednesday, stating that he could neither confirm nor deny the “legitimacy” of the star’s passing.
“The reason why I have that statement was because after I spoke to Duane Laventure [Lil Tay’s former social media manager] and Chris Hope [Lil Tay’s father], they cannot even confirm if she really passed away or not. That’s why I said that,” he explained to The Post.
TMZ reportedly received word from Lil Tay herself, claiming that her Instagram account “was compromised by a 3rd party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumors,” and also pointed out that the alleged hacker had also spelled her name wrong. “My legal name is Tay Tian, not ‘Claire Hope.’”
Tsang, however, couldn’t vouch for the new name as he’d come to know her as Claire Hope while the two worked together.
The original statement declaring her death has since been deleted from her Instagram page.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire’s sudden and tragic passing,” it read, later adding, “This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock.”
So far, Los Angeles police have not been able to confirm the death of the young artist, who hails from Toronto but relocated to LA in her rise to cyber superstardom.
The Post reached out to the Toronto law office where Chris Hope, Tay’s father, is employed, but the man on the line declined to corroborate his daughter’s passing.
“Yeah, you have the right person, but I don’t have any comment right now,” Hope told The Post in the brief, 2-minute call Wednesday. “I’m not able to give you any comment right now. I’m sorry — I can’t.”
When asked whether someone else could confirm his daughter’s death, he responded, “Um, no, not that that I’m aware of.”
“Sorry, I can’t really comment or give you any help — I’m just going to let you go,” he added cryptically before hanging up.
Meanwhile, suspicions that Hope had previously been abusive toward his daughter resurfaced in the wake of her dubious “death.” Allegations were first leveled in an April 2021 GoFundMe profile organized by the teen’s older brother, Jason Tian, who also claimed abuse at the hands of Hope’s wife, Hanee.
In his appeal, Tian shared, “My sister Tay has been silent on social media for the past 3 years because her absentee father (Chris Hope) served my mother a court order demanding control over Tay’s money, career and custody.”
Prior to the teen’s alleged passing, Lil Tay hadn’t been active on social media since 2018.
Tian continued, “As a result, it was court ordered that my sister had to return to Vancouver, Canada … Since then he has stolen millions of dollars from my sister and has taken control of all her funds.”
Tsang, however, also doubts this narrative.
“He is a cool guy,” he said of Hope. When asked by The Post if he found the abuse allegations to be true, Tsang simply said, “No, absolutely not.”
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