If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”
Mina Chan, a K-pop influencer who was a fan of the boy band Enhypen and had over 300,000 TikTok followers and 150,000 Instagram followers, has died. She was 25.
Chan died by suicide at her home in Seoul, South Korea, during a social media livestream last Wednesday, Aug. 5, Yongsan Police told The Korea Herald. USA TODAY reached out to TikTok and South Korean authorities for comment.
Chan's behavior began to concern some of her livestream viewers, who began reaching out to local law enforcement, asking them to help the content creator, according to the New York Daily News. Police appeared on the scene after
one of the influencer's acquaintances called authorities as well, the Korea Herald reports, but Chan was pronounced dead by the time law enforcement arrived at her home in the early morning hours.
Chan's sister reportedly shared a since-expired message regarding the influencer's death on her Instagram story, according to the Daily Mail. "My beloved older sister, who was always kind and warm to everyone she met, has passed away," she wrote, noting she will not be speaking about the situation further. "I kindly ask that you keep my sister in your thoughts and prayers," she concluded.
Chan was the subject of backlash in the Enhypen fan community after she was accused of overstepping boundaries while attending a concert in July. The Daily Mail reports that some fans criticized the way she went about getting one of the band members' attention so that he could pass flowers along to her favorite member, Ni-Ki. Ni-Ki later appeared on a Weverse livestream where he spoke about concert etiquette and said that he felt some of the fans are more concerned with getting the group's attention rather than enjoying the show.
USA TODAY has reached out to Enhypen's rep for comment.
According to the Daily Mail, she wrote in a since-deleted apology on X, "I feel like my actions ended up taking advantage of Sunoo's kindness. I'm truly sorry. I feel so apologetic toward Sunoo and all the Sunoo fans."
Chan continued, "By attending Enhypen's fansigns multiple times, I had deluded myself into thinking I was closer to the members than I actually was. I deeply regret the rude behavior I exhibited in America. I ruined the atmosphere of the venue by prioritizing my own desire to meet Ni-ki over the precious time Ni-ki, who loves America so much, deserved. I'm truly sorry."
Edited and blurred-out clips purportedly of the livestream have been uploaded to X and have yet to be taken down. Jessica Maddox, an internet culture researcher and an associate media studies professor at the University of Georgia, previously told USA TODAY that the ability to find this graphic content has become mainstream.
"Social media was made for this violence," Maddox said. "This type of violent content that we are exposed to on social media is not antithetical to social media's values; it is indicative of their values." USA TODAY reached out to X for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Chan's death comes after celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also alarmed fans on a TikTok livestream when police were called to his home after reports of self-harm. The livestream remained active for 15 minutes due to a "moderator error," a spokesperson told USA TODAY. After the stream was stopped, his account was permanently banned outright "due to Hilton breaching the social media platform's community guidelines."
According to a statement uploaded to Hilton's website by his family, he's in serious but stable condition and will require surgery after experiencing serious blood loss.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: K-pop TikTok influencer Mina Chan dies on livestream
