Editor’s Notice: For those who or somebody you recognize is combating suicidal ideas or psychological well being issues, please name or textual content the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline to attach with a skilled counselor or go to the Lifeline site.
CNN
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Josh Seiter, a former contestant on ABC’s relationship actuality present “The Bachelorette,” says he’s “alive and properly” after a press release saying his dying was posted to his verified Instagram web page on Monday — triggering worldwide protection.
“As you possibly can see, I’m alive and properly,” Seiter says in a video posted to his verified Instagram web page on Tuesday.
Within the video, he claimed his account was “hacked” and that he had been attempting “desperately” to get again into it for the final 24 hours.
CNN has reached out to Meta, the tech firm that owns Instagram, searching for remark and affirmation of the hack.
“After I noticed that I had been hacked and this factor had been posted, and it was designed to seem real nevertheless it’s actually attempting to invoke a response from folks and troll folks, it’s very upsetting to me,” Seiter mentioned in a telephone dialog with CNN on Tuesday afternoon.
A number of retailers had earlier reported Seiter had died on the age of 36 based mostly on a since-deleted assertion posted to his web page that mentioned, partly, “It’s with a particularly heavy coronary heart that we share the tragic information of Joshua’s sudden passing. As all who knew him can attest, Joshua was an extremely vivid gentle in an more and more dim world.”
The assertion additionally included data on assets for many who could also be combating their psychological well being, a subject that Seiter has been outspoken about on his social media.
“Someone was enjoying a merciless joke and mocking my psychological sickness and the struggles I’ve gone by with despair and suicide makes an attempt,” he mentioned in his video publish. He apologized for the incident and mentioned he’s working to “establish who was behind this.”
“I feel it’s egregious, I feel it’s disappointing,” Seiter informed CNN of the false publish about his dying. “However I’m not shocked that there’s somebody on the market (who) thought it was humorous to, on this approach, make enjoyable of psychological sickness, make enjoyable of suicide.”
When requested about individuals who might query the legitimacy of his declare he was hacked, Seiter mentioned, “I’ve thick pores and skin. In the event that they assume that it was a ploy or one thing, they’ll assume that – it wasn’t. I wasn’t behind it, I’m the sufferer of it.”
Seiter appeared on Season 11 of “The Bachelorette” in 2015, which was led by former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe.
CNN has reached out Bristowe and ABC for remark.
The incident is just like that of 14-year-old rapper and social media star Lil Tay, whose Instagram account posted a press release earlier this month that falsely introduced her dying. It was later reported that the rapper was certainly alive, and that her Instagram account had been hacked by a 3rd celebration.