People have come up with and performed extremely risky ideas for content on
their social media platforms, especially to garner views on Instagram or TikTok profiles.
These are the social media stars who died trying to go viral.
Wu Yongning dubbed himself "China's first rooftopper." He would perform
highly dangerous stunts that included standing on the rooftops of tall skyscrapers without any
form of safety equipment. Yongning would regularly upload videos of his daredevil
stunts, with SZnews reporting that he had reached over 54,000 followers on his blog. His Instagram
page showed Yongning using a selfie stick to reveal just how high up he was while standing
on the roofs of the buildings. Other images portrayed him holding on to a building with just
one hand or dangling in the air holding on to the edge of a building with his fingertips.
Sadly, in 2017, Yongning died after he lost his grip while atop the Huayuan International Center
in China. He was live-streaming the stunt and was seen struggling to hold on to the
building's edge, and in the final seconds of the video, Wu fell from the building.
South China Morning Post reported that Wu Yongning's family sued the live-streaming
app that filmed the daredevil and his fatal fall. His family was to receive 30,000 yuan,
which is $4,300, in compensation from the live-streaming platform.
Yongning had initially attempted the feat to win a 100,000 yuan prize.
Married travel bloggers Vishnu Viswanath and Meenakshi Moorthy posted their epic travels
across the country on their shared Instagram page. With Moorthy's brightly colored pink
hair popping in the middle of each photo, they stood in front of breathtaking views.
Their page has more than 22,000 followers who were intrigued by the couple's selfie skills
and the risks they were willing to take to get the ultimate photo.
In 2018, The Fresno Bee reported that the couple's bodies were found after they
fell from the Taft Point overlook, 3,500 feet above Yosemite Valley in California.
The National Park Service stated that the couple fell about 800 feet and a recovery team had to use
technical climbing, rappelling techniques, and a helicopter to recover their bodies.
Ironically, before her death, Moorthy shared a photo on Instagram where she is
sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon, captioning it in part,
"CHASING SUNSETS OR CHASING LIKES??? [...] A lot of us including yours truly is a fan
of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers,
but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL??? Is our life just worth one photo?"
The Washington Post stated that friends of the couple believed they were trying to take a photo.
Viswanath's brother reportedly told the AP that the bloggers were, indeed, taking a selfie.
In 2017, teenage couple Monalisa Perez and Pedro Ruiz III believed fame and fortune
would come knocking at their door when they devised a prank that ultimately left Ruiz dead.
While Perez and Ruiz had uploaded harmless prank videos on their YouTube channel before,
the couple took things a step further when Perez stated that Ruiz wanted her
to shoot him while he was holding a 1.5-inch-thick book to his chest.
Perez shot and killed Ruiz while standing a foot away from him using a Desert Eagle gun
in front of their three-year-old child and almost 30 other people, the BBC explained.
According to the Star Tribune, Perez pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was
sentenced to 180 days in jail. As part of her sentencing, Perez is banned for life from owning
any firearms or collecting money for her story. During an interview with The New York Times,
Sheriff Jeremy Thornton of Norman County, Minnesota, said after the shooting,
"I really have no idea what they were thinking.
I just don't understand the younger generation on trying to get their 15 minutes of fame."
“I may fail, but if I fail, I wanna die trying.”
Perez has since created a new Instagram account. Her first post is a selfie,
which she captioned in part,
"I'm a woman that has gone through hell. It's interesting how everyone has a story,
everyone thinks they know everything but no one has not even a clue."
Xiao Qiumei was well known in the social media world with more than 100,000 followers on Douyin,
the Chinese version of TikTok. She would often post about her life as a crane operator.
However, things took a turn for the worse when Qiumei fell 160 feet,
reportedly while making a video of herself as
it happened. Quimei's phone was in her hand when she hit the ground, according to eyewitnesses.
The video obtained by The Sun shows Qiumei speaking into her camera and later switches
to blurry images from a phone bouncing down a crane. While the family confirmed that she had
died while falling off a crane, they denied that she had used her phone while working, instead
believing that she missed a step. Qiumei, a mother of two, was reportedly 23 years old when she died.
After losing a bet, Gigi Wu took a photo of herself in her bikini at the top of
a mountain peak and continued the trend after noticing that she was gaining more attention.
The Taiwanese woman was dubbed the "Bikini Hiker" and was popular on social media in her country.
According to The Washington Post, Wu's Facebook page was filled with photos of herself on the tops
of several mountains in the country, and it was clear that she had a passion for hiking. In fact,
she was even picking up any trash she saw on her way to the very top.
Daily Mail reported that Wu was on a solo hike through Yushan National Park in 2019
when she tragically fell into a ravine. While she was able to call for help,
she was badly injured and trapped. Because of bad weather, it wasn't until 28 hours
later that a rescue team was able to get to Wu's dead body, which had already frozen.
Canadian rapper Jon James McMurray took his music videos to hazardous heights by
jumping out of planes and off of cliffs. His management team shared with CTV News,
"His passion for making music videos and performing stunts were combined,
and Jon pushed music in a new direction that was uncharted territory."
However, McMurray tragically died in 2018 after trying to perform yet
another stunt where he planned to walk on the wing of a plane as he rapped,
but he walked out too far and fell to his death.
McMurray's management team explained the situation, saying,
“[McMurray walked] further out onto the wing of the plane, it caused the small
Cessna to go into a downward spiral that the pilot couldn't correct."
Although McMurray tried holding onto the wing, he ultimately let it go. His team added,
"He didn't have time to pull his chute [...] He impacted and died instantly."
The pilot was able to safely land the plane following the tragic turn.