On Thursday (June 6), TMZ ran a report revealing the cause of death of T.I.’s older sister, Precious Harris.
According to TMZ, the Fulton County medical examiner’s officer ruled that the 66-year-old’s death was a result of “cocaine toxicity which aggravated hypertensive cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure).”
In other words, Harris had enough of the drug in her system to cause high blood pressure and trigger an abnormal heart rhythm. As previously reported, she was driving T.I.’s Dodge Avenger with his grandniece, Kairi Chapman, when she became unconscious and veered off the road before crashing into a telephone pole. After being rushed to a hospital and after a week still wasn’t responsive, leading her family to make the difficult decision to remove her from life support.
While the passing of his sister has affected T.I. deeply, TMZ’s report crossed a line as far as the Atlanta rap veteran and entrepreneur is concerned. Taking to Instagram Live, Tip spoke adamantly against the celebrity news site’s decision to run such a story, slamming TMZ for their lack of empathy regarding his sister’s death and family’s right to privacy.
“I have a message for TMZ, Harvey Levin and all of y’all motherf–kers out there who see fit to run a story about my loved one,” he begins. “You know, for a long time, TMZ and Harvey, y’all been profiting off of people’s pain. Y’all been profiting off people’s pain, aight. People die, people around them, the families who are grieving, y’all putting information out there that really disrupts their grieving process.”
Tip then continues, noting how people often write off how celebrities are humans too because of their wealth, privilege and other factors that come with fame.
“See, for the most part, we look the other way. You know why, because those people are celebrities and nobody feels sorry for celebrities. They’re rich. They live the life that they want; they live a way that nobody else can live. Why should we feel sorry for them? Yeah, I get that. So whenever you say something about me… I just go cry on a bag of money. That’s my strategy. But this my family. This ain’t no motherf–king celebrity. This ain’t no motherf–king superstar.”
T.I. then tells Levin he’s burned a bridge and warns the staff of TMZ to keep a safe distance from now on. It appears as though his message got through to the company, as the original story link has since been removed.
Tip has remained transparent about the devastating loss of his sister, such as through opening up on social media and dedicating a $25,000 scholarship in Precious’ name.
Take a look at T.I.’s response to TMZ’s report about his sister Precious’ cause of death in full below.