In the ongoing saga of the fake death message posted Monday to Josh Seiter’s Instagram, the former “Bachelorette” contestant said on Wednesday that getting back into his social media account was his “top priority,” ahead of letting people know that he hadn’t really died.
In a video interview shared on TMZ, Seiter said, “I’m just a lowly mental health advocate. So I don’t have an official PR team or a team of experts that know how to handle this kind of a thing. And I’m not technologically savvy.”
He explained, “My priority was getting back into my Instagram account… that was my number one priority, and then dealing with the stress of it all it was just overwhelming.”
Seiter’s ex, Monica Beverly Hillz, told EW on Tuesday that she was glad he was still alive, but that she believed the death hoax was a “stunt” he had perpetrated himself.
“I know there’s a lot of people that are Monday morning quarterbacking on what I should have done, how they would have handled it but I don’t think anyone knows how they would have handled something like that until it happens to them,” Seiter said in defense of his actions.
TMZ’s Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere asked why Seiter didn’t return their fact-check call for 18 hours and that “there are other ways to get the story out” that he was still alive.
Seiter responded, “‘I’m not a celebrity… I’m not famous. I don’t have a team that puts out statements or you know, knows how to do stuff like that… I was working desperately and dealing with 1.000 things and people messaging me and calling me.”
When asked to comment on why some of his family members told TMZ “no comment”or simply hung up on TMZ’s reporters, he explained that he is “estranged from several family members.”
“It’s sad there were tributes going up, but I’m not to blame for that. I’m a victim too,” Seiter said in the video.
His death hoax follows that of former social media star Lil Tay, who also said her Instagram was hacked with a false death announcement.
