Gamer’s Funeral Live Streamed On Internet

In a sign of just how far and how integrated the on-line gaming community has become, the funeral of a 24-year-old professional has been streamed live on video gaming platform Twitch.

Philip “Phizzurp” Klemenov, a well-known pro gamer and live streamer had his life tragically cut short when he was involved a fatal in a car accident in Aurora, Colorado, on October 2nd.

While Twitch itself was clearly not designed for such a sombre or solemn occasion, Klemenov’s funeral had at the time of writing, been viewed almost 70,000 times by fans and fellow gamers. 

Klemenov, or Phizzurp, as most people knew him, was a professional, full-time gamer who live streamed his gaming and commentary whilst playing the video game Call of Duty. He was also a member of well-known and highly successful professional gaming team “Hard to Kill” also known as “H2K.”

He also had his own Twitch channel with a host of fans who routinely tuned into his broadcasts, and which at the time of his death had just under 6 million individual views and on his own Twitch channel.

Klemenov died from injuries sustained during a motor vehicle accident early Sunday morning (2 October). His death was, unsurprisingly, announced to the wider world at large, on Twitter, by his girlfriend Adrianna Lemus.

“My baby passed away today, about 15 minutes ago,” she wrote “Everybody keep good memories of him. Rest in peace my angel.”

Lemus was in the car both when the vehicle left the road.

The recording of the funeral, which was split into 3 separate recordings in order to accommodate the streaming nature of Twitch, can still be watched on Klemenov’s Twitch channel. The hundreds of messages of condolence alongside the comments by online mourners are also still present.

The funeral was held on the morning of Sunday 9 October, and friends set up a camera in the church to live stream the memorial service.