Man Dead After Live Streaming Drinking Alcohol, Cooking Oil Everyday For Months

A Chinese man, who live streamed himself drinking alcohol, cooking oil and other things every day for three months, has died.

The man, identified as a 29-year-old with the surname Chu, live streamed himself for the last time drinking alcohol in a supermarket on Dec.31, 2018. He recorded himself via the Liaoliao app and his videos would broadcast in virtual rooms on the app.

Local website Thepaper.cn on Tuesday quoted Chu’s friend saying he fell ill while taking a taxi home after streaming his supermarket video. The taxi driver immediately informed police who transported him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

Though the exact cause of death was not known, his 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.”

He added that Chu also drank cooking oil in hope of getting cash as reward. He earned $74 for it.

“In one video clip, he sat there telling people he couldn’t do it any more. He was twitching, but people still asked him to continue,” the friend said.

A man surnamed Wang, who supervised one of the virtual chat rooms where Chu’s videos were live streamed, said he too was “partly responsible” for his death. He added the app’s owner should be blamed for the death.

After the news came out, the app stopped live streaming and also blocked access to all the previous 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,” a notice on the app said.

In a similar incident, a Chinese man died in early February while jumping from a bridge into a river to impress his fans. The man, surnamed Li, dived into a river and died after he hit stones beneath the surface. Li dreamed of a live streaming career and earned money by doing short videos, the South China Morning Post reported.

Huang, who was taking the video, said, “He said when he became popular he would quit his job and focus on live streaming. The river was shallow. The bottom felt very hard, covered by stones.”