A Mississippi man broadcast his own suicide live on social media resulting in a now-viral video that is traumatizing those who see it. Ronnie McNutt, 33, livestreamed his death on Facebook and TikTok, and now-viral video of the incident has been shared thousands of times, with many people tuning in unaware of what they were about to see.
- Social media companies are scrambling to get the video down. However, they’re being criticized by many for not acting quickly enough to remove the video from their platforms before they were shared numerous times and seen by too many unsuspecting viewers.
- People keep reuploading it every time it gets deleted. While one has to wonder who would want to watch a man end his life in such a gruesome way, TikTok and Facebook have apparently both been dealing with people reuploading the video of Ronnie McNutt’s suicide every time it’s deleted from the platforms.
- The video even appeared on TikTok’s “ForYou” trending page. This made it even more difficult for users to avoid it, especially since the thumbnail only shows a man sitting at a desk talking on the phone. “I was scrolling TikTok and suddenly there’s a video of a guy that killed themselves with a shotgun and I am seriously warning you DO NOT watch it DO NOT SEARCH FOR IT because it’s very terrifying and gory so pls BE CAREFUL god damn I’m shaking,” one person remarked. Another suggested on Twitter that people “stay away from TikTok for a while.”
- TikTok insists they’re doing all they can to remove the clip. “On Sunday night, clips of a suicide that had been livestreamed on Facebook circulated on other platforms, including TikTok,” as spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide. We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips, and we appreciate our community members who’ve reported content and warned others against watching, engaging, or sharing such videos on any platform out of respect for the person and their family.” They went on to provide guidance for anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide, directing them to hotlines advertised in the app.
- Ronnie McNutt was described as “caring and loyal” by those who knew him. After the video showed him ending his own life at a desk in his home on August 31, his friends flooded his Facebook timeline expressing their devastation. “Please say a prayer right now for the family of Ronnie McNutt. He just killed himself live on FB and I cannot unsee this,” one person wrote. “I tried but apparently it wasn’t quick enough to reach him. I wasn’t quick enough. Dear God I wish I could have gotten to him.”
- It’s unclear what led Ronnie McNutt to end his life. However, it’s believed that he had recently lost his job and broken up with his girlfriend. Whatever the reason, it didn’t have to go like this and it’s incredibly sad. McNutt was a former Army vet who served in Iraq and worked at a Toyota plant in nearby New Albany. May he rest in piece.
