60-year-old Russian dies on YouTube livestream after drinking 1.5 litres of vodka

Senator calls for 'thrash streams' to be made illegal as he condemns incident

A man has reportedly died on a YouTube livestream in Russia after drinking 1.5 litres of vodka (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A Russian man known as “Grandfather” has reportedly died during a livestream after drinking 1.5 litres of vodka.

The man, named in local media reports as 60-year-old Yuri Dushechkin, was allegedly offered money by a YouTuber in exchange for drinking alcohol or hot sauce on air.

He is said to have died after consuming about 1.5 litres of vodka, with his body still visible to viewers as the livestream continued to record, according to Russian news website Readovka.

The security forces are reportedly investigating the incident, which took place last Thursday in the city of Smolensk in western Russia.

Mr Dushechkin’s cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

The incident is thought to be the latest in a worrying trend of “thrash streams”, sometimes translated to “trash streams”, which see people asked to perform stunts, often humiliating, in return for money while subscribers watch.

Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov, chair of the Federation Council’s Commission on Information Policy, has pushed for a ban on broadcasts that livestream violence.

Condemning the incident on Twitter, he said the Federation Council is due to meet on 11 February to discuss legislation to make "thrash streaming" illegal.

He wrote in a tweet on the day of the incident: "A homeless man died in Smolensk during a thrash-stream session: he was bullied, he was beaten, and the Internet scum paid money to the blogger for these spectacles.

"Is it necessary to explain to someone else the need to legally ban thrash-streams and their eradication as a phenomenon? It is obvious to us."He added in another post: “On February 11, the Federation Council will host a meeting of the working group on the legislative prohibition of thrash [sic] streams.

“Now we are collecting the views of senators and experts.

“On February 11, we want to come up with specific proposals for including the necessary amendments to the legislation. Trash streams are illegal!”