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Student kills himself after gay sex footage put online

Jetboogieman

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A New Jersey college student has leapt to his death a day after authorities said two students secretly filmed him having sex with a man and broadcast it over the internet.

Tyler Clementi's wallet was found on the George Washington Bridge on 22 September after two witnesses saw someone jump from the structure, authorities told the AP news agency.

Mr Clementi's body has not been found.

Two students have been charged with illegally filming the 18-year-old.

"Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words," Paul Mainardi, a lawyer for Mr Clementi's family, said in a statement confirming the suicide.

Room-mate charged

The footage was allegedly taken using a web camera in Mr Clementi's dorm room at Rutgers University and broadcast live over the internet.

The two charged with filming and broadcasting the images are Mr Clementi's room-mate, Dharun Ravi, and Molly Wei.

If convicted, the two students face up to five years in prison.

BBC News - Student kills himself after gay sex footage put online

A tragic loss. He had more to live for. He could have done so much with his life. I understand the embarressment and the effect it can have on an 18 year old. We'll never know how he felt before he lept off that bridge. But I wish he hadn't.
 
Darwinism at work.

I don't know how he felt before he jumped off the bridge, but I'll bet he was having some serious second thought after he jumped off the bridge.
 
Such is the product of bigotry and hate. To target others simply for who they are is quite the sad thing, yet one that has been seen throughout history unfortunately.
 
Poor kid. He was obviously fragile to begin with. I read it wasn't bigotry at all that motivated the other two kids, they thought it was just a prank. What a world our kids are growing up in. They don't seem to realize how damaging it can be to play around with other people's privacy and think nothing of putting it out there for all the world to see.
 
What a sad loss. I wish the best for his family as I personally know they are have a terrible time dealing with this.
 
Sadly, the kids who perpetrated this can only face a maximum of 5 years in prison. I sincerely hope that this weighs heavily on their hearts for the rest of their lives. What they did was absolutely horrible. Time and time again, the ignorant never realize the possible repercussions before they do something like this.
 
Darwinism at work.

I don't know how he felt before he jumped off the bridge, but I'll bet he was having some serious second thought after he jumped off the bridge.

Frankly, you probably shouldn't be assuming anything about how this kid felt or what his thoughts were. I'm also not surprised by the lack of tact and sympathy in your post.
 
Frankly, you probably shouldn't be assuming anything about how this kid felt or what his thoughts were. I'm also not surprised by the lack of tact and sympathy in your post.

I have zero sympathy for anyone that takes their own life. Suicide is the most selfish and weak minded reaction there is.
 
I have zero sympathy for anyone that takes their own life. Suicide is the most selfish and weak minded reaction there is.

wow, just wow. nice to know.
 
Poor kid. He was obviously fragile to begin with. I read it wasn't bigotry at all that motivated the other two kids, they thought it was just a prank. What a world our kids are growing up in. They don't seem to realize how damaging it can be to play around with other people's privacy and think nothing of putting it out there for all the world to see.

I'm not sure about the hate crime aspect--that seems like a bit of on overreaction. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei were charged with invasion of privacy. Ravi was the roommate and was asked to stay out of the room until 12. Somehow they had rigged up a webcam and were able to stream it from Wei's room. Ravi also dared people to watch, giving a specific time 9:30-12.

A viscous prank with tragic consequences.
 
So this doesn't quite scream "Bully the Gay" to me, as some of you are claiming it is. I mean his roommate doesn't seem to have anything against him. If you read his first Twitter comment it says, "Room-mate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Seems to me like he's more excited that his roomy is getting some action.

This is a college. People having sex and roommates pulling pranks on said sex is something that happens regularly. If Tyler was making out with a lady and doing the naughty with her I bet you that his roommates Twitters and reaction would have been the exact same. Was the roommate in the wrong, yeah he was in the wrong for Voyeurism, which is a crime, but he was just pranking his roommate not necessarily bullying him.

If anything it was Tyler who was ashamed about being Gay, not anyone else. Why would he be ashamed? I say look at the family, maybe they didn't accept him for something like that. Also who said it was about being Gay and the Sex Tape anyways? I don't see anything about a suicide note in there. For all we know Tyler was stressed out from any number of things and decided to just end it all. Maybe his significant other dumped him after the video went live and it wasn't because he was ashamed of being gay, it was because he just got his heart broken.

The point is I think everyone here is jumping the gun and assuming one thing when the only evidence we have is speculative. It's sad that he committed suicide, but I don't really see any evidence of bullying and I think everyone is jumping on the bandwagon against his roomies just because this might be a "Gay" issue. If we find evidence to the contrary then I will agree that the roommates should be punished, but until then I think this was just a depressed kid committing suicide and everyone trying to find a scapegoat to blame.
 
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So this doesn't quite scream "Bully the Gay" to me, as some of you are claiming it is. I mean his roommate doesn't seem to have anything against him. If you read his first Twitter comment it says, "Room-mate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Seems to me like he's more excited that his roomy is getting some action.

This is a college. People having sex and roommates pulling pranks on said sex is something that happens regularly. If Tyler was making out with a lady and doing the naughty with her I bet you that his roommates Twitters and reaction would have been the exact same. Was the roommate in the wrong, yeah he was in the wrong for Voyeurism, which is a crime, but he was just pranking his roommate not necessarily bullying him.

If anything it was Tyler who was ashamed about being Gay, not anyone else. Why would he be ashamed? I say look at the family, maybe they didn't accept him for something like that. Also who said it was about being Gay and the Sex Tape anyways? I don't see anything about a suicide note in there. For all we know Tyler was stressed out from any number of things and decided to just end it all. Maybe his significant other dumped him after the video went live and it wasn't because he was ashamed of being gay, it was because he just got his heart broken.

The point is I think everyone here is jumping the gun and assuming one thing when the only evidence we have is speculative. It's sad that he committed suicide, but I don't really see any evidence of bullying and I think everyone is jumping on the bandwagon against his roomies just because this might be a "Gay" issue. If we find evidence to the contrary then I will agree that the roommates should be punished, but until then I think this was just a depressed kid committing suicide and everyone trying to find a scapegoat to blame.

i think that's crap. putting this on the internet was a terrible thing to do, and his roomie certainly WAS NOT his friend.
 
Poor kid. He was obviously fragile to begin with. I read it wasn't bigotry at all that motivated the other two kids, they thought it was just a prank. What a world our kids are growing up in. They don't seem to realize how damaging it can be to play around with other people's privacy and think nothing of putting it out there for all the world to see.

have to disagree.....what are the kids going to say? of course they're going to say they didn't mean anything by it. it was mean spirited and at 18 they know better.
 
So this doesn't quite scream "Bully the Gay" to me, as some of you are claiming it is. I mean his roommate doesn't seem to have anything against him. If you read his first Twitter comment it says, "Room-mate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Seems to me like he's more excited that his roomy is getting some action.

This is a college. People having sex and roommates pulling pranks on said sex is something that happens regularly. If Tyler was making out with a lady and doing the naughty with her I bet you that his roommates Twitters and reaction would have been the exact same. Was the roommate in the wrong, yeah he was in the wrong for Voyeurism, which is a crime, but he was just pranking his roommate not necessarily bullying him.

If anything it was Tyler who was ashamed about being Gay, not anyone else. Why would he be ashamed? I say look at the family, maybe they didn't accept him for something like that. Also who said it was about being Gay and the Sex Tape anyways? I don't see anything about a suicide note in there. For all we know Tyler was stressed out from any number of things and decided to just end it all. Maybe his significant other dumped him after the video went live and it wasn't because he was ashamed of being gay, it was because he just got his heart broken.

The point is I think everyone here is jumping the gun and assuming one thing when the only evidence we have is speculative. It's sad that he committed suicide, but I don't really see any evidence of bullying and I think everyone is jumping on the bandwagon against his roomies just because this might be a "Gay" issue. If we find evidence to the contrary then I will agree that the roommates should be punished, but until then I think this was just a depressed kid committing suicide and everyone trying to find a scapegoat to blame.

I don't care about the "gay" issue. That's not what concerns me at all. It's the invasion of privacy, not just the victim's but his lover as well, and the fact that they put it on the internet for the whole world to see. They had no right to do that. Whether he was ****ing a guy or a girl makes not the least bit of difference to me. I don't know if this is the reason he killed himself, it might be, who knows? They still had NO right to do what they did and they deserve the 5 years in jail that are hopefully coming to them. Anyone does this to my kid and you can be damn sure I'm throwing the book at them. Period.
 
have to disagree.....what are the kids going to say? of course they're going to say they didn't mean anything by it. it was mean spirited and at 18 they know better.

I really don't think it's bigotry at all. I think they just played an awful prank on a painfully shy roommate. And if they didn't know better before, they sure as hell know now.
 
I really don't think it's bigotry at all. I think they just played an awful prank on a painfully shy roommate. And if they didn't know better before, they sure as hell know now.

maybe not bigotry, but if they were his friends, they would have known he was shy. and maybe they didn't know he would kill himself, but surely they knew what they were doing would harm him. it's inexcusable, imo.
 
I really don't think it's bigotry at all. I think they just played an awful prank on a painfully shy roommate. And if they didn't know better before, they sure as hell know now.

Well Arcana you may call it a prank, a children game, or simply some kids having fun, but I see nothing but evil in their actions, pure and simple evil.
The most fitting punishment for those kind of ****heads is to have them equally humiliated.
 
maybe not bigotry, but if they were his friends, they would have known he was shy. and maybe they didn't know he would kill himself, but surely they knew what they were doing would harm him. it's inexcusable, imo.

Oh, they definitely knew he'd be mortified. And it is absolutely inexcusable. It was bad enough before the internet age, when kids would humiliate each other in front of the whole neighborhood, now they have the whole world as an audience.
 
Well Arcana you may call it a prank, a children game, or simply some kids having fun, but I see nothing but evil in their actions, pure and simple evil.
The most fitting punishment for those kind of ****heads is to have them equally humiliated.

I call it what I think they saw it as in their minds. I personally find what they did utterly despicable and if one of them was my kid I would feel like the worst failure as a parent.
 
Well Arcana you may call it a prank, a children game, or simply some kids having fun, but I see nothing but evil in their actions, pure and simple evil.
The most fitting punishment for those kind of ****heads is to have them equally humiliated.

that would be fitting. perhaps jail time would be humiliating.
 
I found this mildly humorous. To go to this length over a prank like this is ludicrous. It's a red herring to place an inch of blame on these two kids, because if a kid is that emotional and irrational, it was just a matter of time until something drove him over the edge.

My sympathy cup is empty for this kid.
 
I have zero sympathy for anyone that takes their own life. Suicide is the most selfish and weak minded reaction there is.

Yeah it actually isn't that weak minded. You have no idea what this kid probably went through.
 
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