Lil Golo has landed himself in the hospital after a trick at a New Zealand skatepark went terribly wrong. The 24-year-old attempted to run through a wall made from 1,000 strips of duct tape for a viral challenge but was knocked out on contact, left foaming at the mouth and struggling to breathe.
Lil Golo, notorious for his wild and dangerous stunts, attempted the challenge in an Auckland skate park in front of a small crowd of friends and onlookers. Attempting to push his previous challenges to the limit, he charged headfirst into the thick duct tape wall in the hopes of crashing through. The elasticity of the tape sent him flying backward, however, and he was knocked out instantly.
Witnesses described the scene as shocking. “One moment he was sprinting at full pace, and the next he just fell over,” one bystander said. “We initially thought he was joking, but then his body stiffened and he started foaming at the mouth. That’s when we knew something was seriously wrong.”
Lil Golo’s companions immediately called the emergency services. Paramedics arrived within minutes and administered pain relief and stabilized his neck before transporting him to hospital. He was later seen wearing a neck brace but confirmed to have full movement in all his limbs, discounting any major spinal injury.
Following the experience, Lil Golo took to Instagram to share a photo of himself in the hospital, looking very traumatized. “I think I’m gonna retire Lil Golo stunt arc after this one,” he wrote, indicating that he would retire from dangerous challenges. His fans flooded the comment section with messages of relief and support, thanking God that he survived.
The video of the botched stunt quickly went viral, and a heated online argument followed. Some fans sympathized with Lil Golo, but others scolded him for putting his life in danger for internet fame. “This is precisely why these stunts are so perilous,” one user commented. “Individuals are quite literally risking their lives for views.”
This is not the first time that social media stunts have ended in serious injuries. In another case, 14-year-old Skylar Fish from Washington suffered a life-altering head injury attempting the “duct tape challenge,” where he struggled to escape after being wrapped in tape. Fish fell onto a window frame, fracturing his eye socket and suffering a brain aneurysm. His mother later warned of the dangers of these kinds of challenges, urging parents to be aware of what their children are attempting.
Lil Golo’s experience highlights a growing issue in the social media sphere—the pressure to create ever more dangerous and outlandish content to stay in the spotlight. Experts warn that the pursuit of viral fame can lead influencers to do things that are risky beyond reason. Social media psychologist Dr. Emily Carter warns of the psychological toll. “The pressure to one-up the previous stunt creates a dangerous cycle,” she says. “Creators think they need to do increasingly crazy things, no matter the inherent danger.”
