A YouTuber is reportedly being made to pay £13.7m after falsely claiming the tragic death of 16-year-old Kiely Rodni was a scam, causing her grieving family agony
A YouTuber has been ordered to pay a whopping £13.7million ($17.5m) after claiming a teenager’s tragic death was a “scam”.
Online creator Ryan Upchurch was slapped with the massive bill following a high-profile defamation trial over a series of videos he made about the death of 16-year-old Kiely Rodni. The grieving father and grandfather of the teen launched legal action against the influencer based in Nashville, Tennessee.
It came after he is said to have posted clips to his channel questioning whether the tragedy actually happened, suggesting the heartbroken family were involved in a twisted plot to rake in cash via GoFundMe.
Kiely vanished in early August 2022 after attending a party near the Prosser Family Campgrounds in California. Following a frantic search, her body was discovered later that month inside her car in Prosser Lake.
It was later reported that the Coroners Division of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office ruled Kiely’s death was an accident.
According to US news outlet WSMV, Upchurch was hit with the lawsuit in 2023. The Rodni family argued that the internet personality had defamed them in a video titled “ZERO proof of Kiely Rodni situation being REAL.”
In the clip, Upchurch is alleged to have said: “Everyone telling me I should be ashamed of myself, how dare you, that, oh, this is faked – show me that it’s real. Show me proof of Kiely Rodni.”
Lawyers representing the devastated family said that the YouTuber’s videos peddled lies while they were suffering from intense grief, destroying their reputation and causing severe emotional distress.
Chris Smith, one of the attorneys representing the Rodni family, said: “They felt powerless and victimized. There was nothing they could do to stop these videos. These videos were going viral, getting hundreds of thousands of views on a platform that has three million followers.”
Following the verdict, Upchurch’s legal team released a statement to WSMV, claiming he wanted to offer his “heartfelt sympathy” to the grieving relatives.
The statement added: “The freedom of speech is one of the most fundamental rights that is necessary for every free society…while Mr Upchurch is a staunch advocate for the United States Constitution and the rights…Mr Upchurch can be that advocate and also feel sympathy for a family in their time of grief.”
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