BEIJING: The 27-year-old live streamer’s wife confirmed with Chinese media outlet Jimu News on Tuesday that her husband, known by his online moniker Zhong Yuan Huang Ge or Brother Huang from the Central Plains, died due to excessive consumption of alcohol on the morning of June 2, New York Post reported.
He has died from drinking too much alcohol after a live-streamed drinking battle, making this the second fatality from such a game in a month, New York Post reported.
Huang’s death marks the second influencer to die from a viral drinking challenge in under a month.
The fatality occurred on June 2 after the internet celeb, known as Brother Huang to his 176,000 social media followers, had reportedly downed an excessive amount of baijiu.
Colloquially called “Chinese firewater,” the typically sorghum-based spirit boasts an alcohol content ranging between 35 per cent to 60 per cent, New York Post reported.
In videos posted to Huang’s now-deleted account, the YouTuber desperate for fame can be seen swilling the grog, lighting tissue soaked in alcohol and showing off pyramids of empty bottles.
His wife, surnamed Li, said that Huang had been trying to earn cash to pay off a massive debt totaling hundreds of thousands of yuan that he incurred before his marriage.
According to a video of Huang’s room posted by his relative, the wall in his room had Chinese phrases including “money is more important than life” and “life is not all about money, but you will need money to live the life you want,” the New York Post reported citing Strait Times.
Huang had just built a new house in the village this year and the couple had planned to earn money to renovate it after sending their son to kindergarten this year, said his wife Li, New York Post reported.
Huang’s death comes less than a month after a fellow influencer, named Wang Moufeng or “Brother Three Thousand”, was found dead on May 17 hours after livestreaming himself knocking back four bottles of baijiu for his fans on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
Wang Moufeng, better known as Brother Three Thousand, had reportedly been involved in a “PK” challenge, in which two influencers typically compete for gifts or rewards from their audience, New York Post reported.
The loser faces a penalty, which, in Wang’s case, involved imbibing excessive amounts of hooch as punishment for losing three rounds, as seen in the video which is now deleted.
Coincidentally, Huang was a good friend of Wang and even attended his funeral, during which he was overheard vowing to consume less alcohol, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.
Douyin, the Chinese version of the popular app “TikTok” prohibits drinking during live streams, and Wang had already been suspended from the app for previous incidents of on-camera boozing, New York Post reported.
The influencer’s death has since prompted calls for increased regulations of live-streaming apps.
On this side of the pond, the China-owned platform TikTok, which is currently facing bans over potential national security threats, has come under fire for allowing similarly dangerous challenges to proliferate.