Suicide of Ronnie McNutt: Difference between revisions

[[File:ronald-mcnutt-booneville-ms-obituary.jpg|thumb|250px|Another photo of Ronnie, before committing suicide.]]

The '''Suicide of Ronnie McNutt''' incident took place on a live stream on Facebook, broadcasted at 9 pm on August 31, 2020. The live stream depicted a 33-year-old war veteran, Ronnie Merle McNutt (May 23, 1987 – August 31, 2020), playing his favorite game, until he shot himself in the face with a single-shot rifle and died of a self-inflicted wound while hundreds of viewers were watching. Like [[1444|Gleb Korablyov's suicide live-stream]], the footage has spread across many social media networks and forums such as [[YouTube]], Facebook, Twitter, Discord, [[TikTok]], [[4chan]], and many more. This incident caused many controversies, such as internet trolls setting up account impersonations of Ronnie, being used for fraudulent scams or as a bait-and-switch to lure viewers, as well as computer calls being interrupted by users displaying the video.

The live stream features 33-year-old Ronnie McNutt playing his favorite game (offscreen) while drunk and angry. He begins ranting about his job and coworkers while viewers frantically try messaging him. After a while, he gets a phone call from a person he knows (most likely his ex-girlfriend). After that, he hangs up the call and misfires himself with a hunting rifle, blowing his face completely off while his blood splatters on the camera and his brain tissues fall to the floor. The full video would stay on his bleeding corpse on the chair for a few minutes, until officers arrived at his home after someone alerted the department, only seen in the entire video.

Ronnie's friends, including his close one, Josh Steen,<ref name="Forbes" /> reported the live stream to Facebook before Ronnie killed himself.<ref name="mirror" /><ref name="heavy" /><ref name="TechCrunch">Coldewey, D. (2020, September 14). [https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/13/graphic-video-of-suicide-spreads-from-facebook-to-tiktok-to-youtube-as-platforms-fail-moderation-test/ "Graphic Video Of Suicide Spreads From Facebook To TikTok To YouTube As Platforms Fail Moderation Test"]. [[wikipedia:TechCrunch|TechCrunch]].</ref> At 11:51 pm, Facebook later dismissed one of the reports because it did not violate its guidelines.<ref name="Rolling Stone" /> The video was not taken down by the platform until eight hours later. However, the video had already been uploaded to many platforms, such as [[wikipedia:YouTube|YouTube]], [[wikipedia:Twitter|Twitter]], and [[wikipedia:TikTok|TikTok]]. TikTok was also criticized for having the suicide appear on many users' "For You" pages.<ref name="news">Gramenz, J. (2020, September 10). [https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/tiktok-facebook-suicide-video-cant-be-stopped-by-laws-expert-warns/news-story/1f301f625ad4f3aa1085c415e25fa4a2 "Why TikTok Suicide Video Horror Will Happen Again"]. ''News.com.au''.</ref><ref name="mirror" /><ref name="nypost2">Steinbuch, Y. (2020, September 8). [https://nypost.com/2020/09/08/army-veteran-kills-himself-in-facebook-livestream/ "Army Veteran Ronnie McNutt Commits Suicide In Facebook Livestream"]. [[wikipedia:New York Post|New York Post]].</ref><ref name="Forbes" /> Media outlets also stated that some re-uploads of the suicide were also disguised as clips of cute animals.<ref name="news" /><ref name="Rolling Stone" /><ref name="Forbes" /> Ronnie's close friend Josh Steen blamed Facebook for failing to remove the video earlier. Facebook responded stating they were "reviewing how we could have taken down the live stream faster."<ref name="TechCrunch" />