Seiter claims his social media was hacked when his death was announced in a statement.
Josh Seiter says he's "alive and well" less than 24 hours after his Instagram account posted a statement claiming he died.
The Bachelorette alum posted a short Instagram video Tuesday apologizing for any pain that the post may have caused, and he claimed he's the victim of "a cruel joke" after someone hacked into his account. He said he has been desperately trying to gain access to his account over the last 24 hours.
While Josh, who turned off the comments on the post, never explained why it took him nearly a full 24 hours to dispel what would turn out to be a death hoax, Josh, 36, said he's going to get to the bottom of who hacked into his account and mocked his past struggles with mental illness.
"Hey, guys, as you can see I am alive and well. My account was hacked. For the last 24 hours I’ve been trying desperately to get into it," he claimed. "Somebody was playing a cruel joke and mocking my mental illness and the struggles I’ve gone through with depression and suicide attempts and I’m sorry for all the pain they’ve caused when they made that post."
"I just got back into my account," he continued. "I’m going to do all I can with met team to try to identify who was behind this but again, I apologize for the confusion and I will update you guys as more facts come in. Thank you, guys."
ET has reached out to Instagram's parent company, Meta, for comment.
It was on Monday afternoon when Josh's account announced he had died. The statement called it an "unexpected passing" and concluded the statement by writing, "For anybody who is experiencing a mental health crisis and needs help, the 988 SMS lifeline provides 24/7 free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources."
Josh previously competed on season 11 of The Bachelorette, vying for the heart of Kaitlyn Bristowe, in 2015.
Josh's purported death hoax is the second in less than a month. Lil Tay also claimed her Instagram account was hacked when the account posted the 14-year-old rapper and social media influencer had also died unexpectedly. Some 24 hours later, Lil Tay said her Instagram account had also been hacked, and Meta backed up her statement.
Lil Tay's former manager previously told ET that he believes her brother, Jason, was behind the death hoax in order to raise awareness and funds via GoFundMe.
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