Oliver Tree died on June 14, 2026, when two helicopters collided in midair over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was 32. Six people were killed in total. He had performed in São Paulo just over a week earlier as part of his world tour.
Here is what has been confirmed so far, and what investigators are still working to determine.
What Happened
The collision occurred Sunday morning over Recreio dos Bandeirantes, a neighborhood in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro. According to Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police, cited by CNN Brazil, one of the two helicopters was carrying five passengers, while the second carried only its pilot. After the collision, one aircraft crashed into the parking lot of a car dealership, igniting a fire among several parked electric vehicles. Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department confirmed the fire was extinguished and that there were no survivors.
Brazilian outlet O Dia identified all six victims: Oliver Tree Nickell, Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim (known online as Gaspi), Lucas Vignale, Lucas Brito Chaves, and pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac. Investigators have not yet announced a cause for the collision. Rio police told the Associated Press that an investigation into how the two aircraft came to collide is underway.
Who Oliver Tree Was
Born Oliver Tree Nickell on June 29, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California, Tree built his career on a deliberately eccentric persona constructed around a signature bowl cut and exaggerated 1980s fashion. He had built an audience of more than 15 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, filling his pages with skits and character work that blurred the line between musician and internet comedian.
How People Who Knew Him Are Responding
Melanie Martinez, who previously dated Tree, posted a tribute on her Instagram Story hours after the news broke. She wrote that he was “so dedicated to his art,” that his laugh was “so contagious and warm,” and that his ability to lead creatively while maintaining “a sense of childlike wonder and awe” had been deeply inspiring to her. She added that she would be “wondering what stunt and creative project” he was scheming up.
British influencer and musician KSI also posted, writing that he couldn’t believe he had to post something marking Tree’s death at 32, adding that Tree “should still be here” and “had so much music to make.”
Fans on social media have spent the hours since the news broke compiling and rewatching Tree’s final posts from Brazil. He had been documenting the trip with friends in the days leading up to the crash, sharing the kind of high-energy travel content that had become a hallmark of his online presence — clips that now read very differently than they did 48 hours ago.
The Career That Took Him From Vine to Atlantic Records
Tree’s path to fame was unusual even by internet-era standards. He began producing dubstep and performing under the artist name “Tree” in the San Francisco Bay Area, releasing his debut EP Demons in 2013 through R&S Records. That EP included a cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” that reportedly earned approval from Thom Yorke himself — a detail that, for a then-unknown artist working entirely outside the major label system, mattered enormously.
The turning point came in 2016, when Tree’s Vine character “Turbo” — built around the bowl cut, oversized 1980s clothing, and a persona that read as part performance art, part trolling — started gaining real traction. The same year, “When I’m Down” became his breakout single and led directly to a deal with Atlantic Records in 2017. From there, Tree built a career that never fully separated his music from his comedy. Songs like “Life Goes On,” “Miss You” with Robin Schulz, “Alien Boy,” “Hurt,” and “Cash Machine” worked as standalone tracks, but they also functioned as extensions of whatever character or visual world he was inhabiting at the time.
That blending was deliberate. Tree built an audience of more than 15 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram largely by treating his social pages as an extension of his artistic output — filling them with skits, alternate personas, and the kind of internet-native content that made him as recognizable for his visual style as for any individual song. He spent years touring and living out of a suitcase, a lifestyle he discussed candidly in interviews, including a 2022 appearance on a Logan Paul podcast where he described the difficulty of maintaining relationships while living without a permanent home.
His most recent album, Love You Madly, Hate You Badly, was the project bringing him to South America. He played São Paulo on June 6 and had a show scheduled in Lisbon on July 1 — a tour that, as of this week, will not be completed.
What Happens Next
Brazilian authorities have not identified a cause for the midair collision. As is standard in aviation incidents of this kind, a formal investigation will examine flight paths, air traffic communications, and mechanical records for both aircraft before any conclusion is reached. That process typically takes weeks to months.
Tree’s family and representatives have not yet issued a public statement.
Sources
- Associated Press: Investigation Underway in Rio Helicopter Crash
- CNN Brazil: Two Helicopters Collide in Rio de Janeiro
- O Dia: Victims Identified in Recreio dos Bandeirantes Collision
