Influencer sets himself on fire in horrific livestream suicide

An influencer and popular game creator has horrifyingly died after he reportedly livestreamed his suicide by setting himself on fire. Manuel Otto, who was just 14 when he created his most famous game, Stick Run, is believed to have taken his own life while broadcasting live to followers on the streaming platform Twitch on Tuesday evening, according to reports on social media. The German influencer's body was found following a fire at a property in Bavaria, southeast Germany, after a neighbor noticed the blaze and tried to extinguish it, according to local outlet PNP. The disturbing tragedy comes just weeks after another high-profile suicide attempt was livestreamed on the internet. In August, police safely recovered and hospitalized media personality Perez Hilton after he shared a live feed on TikTok of what appeared to be him harming himself from his Miami home. In order to better understand what could have caused the pair of shocking incidents, the New York Post spoke with psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert. In the case of Otto and as well as Perez-Hilton, we don't know exactly what was going through their minds. And that's the case anytime someone is in trouble or attempts suicide. We just don't know what's going through their mind. In the case of Perez-Hilton, maybe he knew that authorities would get involved. People would witness it and call the authorities. So maybe it's a cry for help maybe it's just part of the legacy where the person wants the public to see the death maybe it thinks it gives them more more value or more meaning post-mortem maybe it's also sharing their very private misery and pain in a very very public way and in that case i think it can be quite traumatizing for anyone who who may have witnessed it in the case of Manuel Otto it's a a very sad situation. Again, we don't know exactly what's going on, but I think in his case, this is proof positive that someone can be wildly popular online, but still have pretty significant mental health problems. You know, I think we have to pay much more attention to people who have social media platforms, and we can't just dismiss any gestures that they may be making. They should be taken seriously. Otto created Stick Run as a free-to-play game on Facebook in 2010, and it has reportedly been played by more than 43 million people worldwide, both on desktops and cell phones, according to Dexerto. Following the tragedy, Stick Run said in an ex-post of its creator, Stick Run is aware of a livestream on Twitch involving its creator and owner, Manuel Otto, in which he appeared to have taken his own life. It is with a heavy heart that we confirm and announce the passing of our creator. His legacy will live on through every memory, every run, and every player who grew up playing stick running, they later said in a statement shared to Facebook. A spokesperson for Twitch told the post that the streaming platform quickly removed Manuel's channel and any video of his death.