Man drinks himself to death in desperate bid for livestream fame
A man in China has died after he had spent three months drinking large volumes of liquids, including cooking oil, as part of an ill-fated bid for fame on a livestreaming app.
The man, who has been identified as Chu, reportedly died on December 31, soon after livestreaming himself drinking alcohol at a supermarket in Dalian, Liaoning province, the Paper reports.
His cause of death has not been confirmed, but an unnamed friend said, “He died not because he drank that day, but because he had done so for three months. He drank beer and other things, without taking a rest, even for a day,” South China Morning Post reports.
Chu became ill in a taxi after he left the supermarket. The driver called the police and the fame hungry streamer was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Chu had been drinking various liquids every day for three months. He was earning about 500 yuan (US$74) a day from fans watching his videos on the Liaoliao video broadcasting app. “In one video clip, he sat there telling people he couldn’t do it anymore,” the friend said. “He was twitching, but people still asked him to continue.”
Video footage from Chu’s livestream on the broadcasting platform published by the Paper shows a man drinking various liquids, including oil, and in one clip he vomits all over himself and his body spasms.
Chu’s drinking was reportedly broadcast in several virtual rooms on the livestreaming app. A man identified as Wang supervised one of these rooms and said he was “partly responsible” for his death, but that the app owners held the most responsibility.
Also on rt.com Gamer arrested after appearing to assault his girlfriend in Fortnite livestream videoLiaoliao responded to reports of Chu’s death by stopping its livestreaming functions and blocking access to its videos.
“In response to the country’s ‘Internet Clean-up 2019’ initiative, we have launched a self-inspection. All videos have been shut down until further notice,” it said.
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