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When a statement announcing the sudden death of Lil Tay, a 15-year-old viral rapper who rose to fame as a nine-year-old on Instagram, was posted to her account earlier this week, it led to an outpouring of grief and sorrow. But that has given way to confusion and relief in equal measure, after TMZ reported that she is now very much alive. In a statement from Tay’s family, she said: “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. “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.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Lil Tay rose to fame as the “World’s Youngest Flexer” who rapped and showed off a lavish lifestyle across social media aged just nine, garnering 3.2m followers on Instagram. However, the account went dormant in 2018 after a video was posted online in which she appeared to be coached by someone off-camera, whom many suspected was her brother Jason. Tay was also reportedly caught in the middle of a custody battle between her parents, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope, which had been going on in court since about 2018, around the same time the influencer’s account went dormant. The account resumed briefly that October with bizarre and concerning activity, including a video of the girl crying that was posted and then taken down. The posts were later scrubbed, but led to allegations of abuse by her father, amid the custody dispute. In 2021, activity briefly restarted on the account, with several posts accusing Christopher Hope of physical and mental abuse and of stealing all of Lil Tay’s money. Hope denied the allegations and sent a cease and desist letter to Instagram. An unsigned statement posted to the account on Wednesday said the star’s death at 15 was “sudden and tragic” and “entirely unexpected”. It also said her older brother, Jason Tian, who had at one point been in control of her account, had also died, and that both deaths were under investigation. Both Lil Tay’s father and former manager had refused to confirm or deny her death, with the latter calling for “cautious consideration” in handling the news. Speaking to Insider, her father, Christopher Hope, declined to comment on the Instagram post and declined to answer whether his daughter was alive. Her former manager, Harry Tsang, also declined to confirm or deny her death. “Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family,” Tsang told Insider on Wednesday. In a follow-up 24 hours later, Tay was thanking Meta for helping to get her Instagram account back, and had removed the fake death statement. She said: “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'.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Elon Musk has escalated his rivalry with Mark Zuckerberg in his latest tweets, calling the Meta co-founder a "cuck." Since Zuckerberg's Meta launched Threads, a text-based social media app to rival Musk's Twitter, the two billionaire businessmen have been exchanging jibes online. Some of these include Zuckerberg taking to Twitter for the first time in 11 years to post a Spider-Man meme, Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a cage fight and Twitter threatening Threads with a lawsuit. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, Musk has responded to a screenshot from Threads that shows a post from the official account of the fast-food chain Wendy’s that reads: "hey @zuck, you should go to space just to make him really mad lol." To which Zuckerberg replied with a crying laughing emoji. Though clearly, this didn't amuse Musk as he declared on Twitter in response: "Zuck is a cuck." And he didn't stop there, in a follow-up tweet suggested another contest - not a cage-fighting one this time but something more explicit: "I propose a literal d*** measuring contest," Musk tweeted, along with a ruler emoji. The Elon Musk parody account cracked a joke in response to the real Musk's latest tweets: "At this point, I can't keep track of which account I'm tweeting from." This is the same parody account that called Zuckerberg a "lizard boy," and caught the attention of the actual Elon Musk who responded: "So many people think this account is me," with the eyes emoji. Zuckerberg has yet to respond in this war of words, though clearly this feud is far from over... Elsewhere, what is Threads, Instagram's 'text-based' alternative to Twitter, Threads users issued warning over new social media app, and Elon Musk responds to parody account calling Mark Zuckerberg 'lizard boy'. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Zac Efron has responded to the apparent rumours that the late Matthew Perry wanted the 36-year-old to play him in a biopic about his life. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Perry's friend Athenna Crosby claimed he had told her this the night before his tragic death which was reported to be from an apparent drowning in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28. "He said that he wanted to make a movie about his life," she said. "He had worked with Zac Efron in the past on a movie, and said he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version and that he was gonna ask him soon to do that." Crosby referred to the comedy film 17 Again both Perry and Efron starred in where they younger and older versions of the same character. Now Efron has since responded to say how he felt feels 'hugely honoured' upon hearing that Perry had mentioned him when thinking of an actor to play himself in his biopic. And appears keen to take on the role. "I'm honoured to hear he was thinking of me to play him. We'll see. I'd be honoured to do it," Efron told PEOPLE the premiere for his new film Iron Claw in Dallas, Texas, before sharing how Perry helped him as a young actor. "He was a mentor to me, and we made a really cool film together. I looked up to him, I learned comedic timing from that guy. "I mean, when we were filming 17 Again, it was so surreal for me to look across and have him be there, because I've learned so much from him, from his whole life." Elsewhere, Perry has previously reference a time where he had wrote a rom-com and wanted Efron to star in it - only for Efron to decline the role. "Well, it was Zac Efron. But he said no. So, we've got to find someone who says yes," he told SiriusXM. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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