Fourteen-year-old rapper Lil Tay passed away as her family announced earlier this week, though their announcement left more questions than answers.
As fans speculate what could have happened to the young girl, others are focusing on something larger: her brother.
Her family revealed in their statement that they had just lost her brother as well, and her death was adding to the devastation.
However, Lil Tay’s brother was not in the spotlight the same way that Lil Tay was, though he allegedly was her biggest inspiration.
Jason Tian was 21 years old when he passed away, only a few years older than his sister Lil Tay.
So who was Jason Tian and how did he help Lil Tay?
Who is Lil Tay’s brother Jason Tian?
To make a long story short, we could just say that Jason is Lil Tay’s older brother. But there’s so much more to Jason than just his position as her brother.
Neither sibling’s cause of death has been revealed at this time, though there is an investigation.
Regardless of the lack of information surrounding their deaths, we do know one thing: Jason was accused of operating Lil Tay’s entire online persona after he was unable to make it as an aspiring rapper.
According to a profile from The Cut, it’s Jason who taught Lil Tay how to act, told her what to say and do, and orchestrated the entire character of Lil Tay.
However, that’s not all Jason did.
Despite their social media absences for several years, in 2021, Jason took to GoFundMe to start a fundraiser for his sister, alleging that their parents were taking advantage of and abusing Lil Tay.
Jason Tian set up Go Fund Me for Lil Tay
Jason’s GoFundMe reads that it was set up on behalf of Tay Tian, otherwise known as Lil Tay, or her legal name, Claire Hope.
The Go Fund Me was seeking $19,000 to go toward Tay’s legal fees “to give her the fighting chance in court to save her from a life of abuse.. Towards her future, and freedom.”
The page alleges that Tay would be going against her father, Chris Hope, and his wife, Hanee Hope, on trial in the BC Supreme Court of Canada.
Jason alleges in the post that Tay had been mentally and physically abused by Chris and Hanee and added pictures to prove the point.
He further argued that Chris was trying to “permanently gain control of her career as well as custody over her.”
Plus, he explained Lil Tay’s absence from social media.
Why did Lil Tay disappear from social media?
According to the GoFundMe page, the reason Lil Tay was absent from social media had to do with her father “demanding control over Tay’s money, career, and custody, and 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. He has signed million dollar deals and taken all of Tay’s money for himself, he has spent millions buying himself and his wife (Hanee Hope) a new mansion, speed boat, nice cars, trips to spas, salons, fancy restaurants, trips to Egypt, Dubai, Mexico, Philippines, Hawaii, the UK, Paris, designer clothing and jewelry/watches from head to toe, they have been living a lavish lifestyle for the past 3 years off of Tay’s money,” the statement added.
Jason’s public image has him looking like the hero in Tay’s life, the one who was ready to give up everything to help his little sister.
However, some speculate that he was taking advantage of her just like her parents allegedly were taking advantage of her for fame and money.
We may never know the truth about Jason and Tay, or what happened to them. For now, all we can do is wait for more information to become public.