Jack Doherty, a 20-year old influencer on YouTube and Kick, may have taught his followers a valuable (and expensive) lesson over the weekend: Ignore your phone when you’re behind the wheel.
Doherty wrecked his custom McLaren supercar Saturday during a live stream where he was seen looking down at the phone in his hand as he drove on slick roads in Miami. Seconds later he seemingly lost control of the vehicle and hit a guardrail, destroying the car’s front end.
Doherty was not hurt in the accident. A passenger filming the live stream was seen bleeding and groaning, but the extent of his injuries could not be confirmed. (Doherty told another streamer the passenger received three stitches.)
The wreck not only seemingly totaled the car, it also got Doherty booted from Kick, a streaming platform that competes with YouTube and Twitch. His page on the site redirects to a 404 error.
Doherty reportedly paid $202,850.10 for the vehicle last year, according to a video on his YouTube channel. And he did not take the wreck well, kicking his custom-painted vehicle a time or two following the incident.
“All my money’s gone,” he exclaimed. “The exhaust, the whole body kit, my insurance will cover that, right?… Sadness can’t even express how sad I actually am.”
Doherty, who has 14.9 million subscribers on YouTube and has been an influencer since he was 14 years old, kept filming after the wreck as the car was towed away and as he returned home to his waiting mother, who scolded him for driving and texting amidst hugs and maternal worrying.