Matt Rife is now in the crosshairs of the ghost hunting community after allegedly telling a paranormal expert with autism to kill himself. But here’s where it gets worse: he allegedly told a different person on the internet to kill herself during the same argument, with screensho showing one social media user claiming Matt told her to “unalive” herself at least twice. So in one online spree, the Ohio comedian went nuclear on multiple people. This ain’t edgy anymore. This is a pattern.
The initial target was paranormal investigator Chris Mac, who Matt attacked on social media after Chris asked him not to put the Annabelle doll he owns in a certain place at the Haunted Warren Museum. Matt ripped into what he called the “lifeless douchebag,” saying “please remove yourself from this earth.” He doubled down with “You do not matter to anybody. The event has already sold thousands of tickets. Now watch as i block you and you fall back into nonexistence.”
Chris Mac revealed he has autism and responded on Facebook, calling out the bullying directly. Chris’s dad Kevin Mac told TMZ the family is “irate” with Matt over the “unprovoked” comment, saying his son didn’t mean anything by his message and was just expressing a concern. Kevin says Chris is “mentally handicapped” — and this public ridicule is devastating him. Chris’ family is calling on Matt to publicly apologize.
But the rabbit hole goes deeper. The second victim — the woman Matt told to “unalive” herself — was apparently also caught in the same comment section beef. Matt told her “yes, it’s okay – a**holes shouldn’t be here,” and added “You’re mad at me for defending myself- that’s psychotic.” He framed himself as the victim, defending himself against bullies. Sure, Jan.
Here’s the context that matters: Matt and his collaborator Elton Castee charge people up to $166 for admission to the Haunted Warren Museum — a former paranormal landmark. The paranormal community has been dogging Matt for a while, saying he’s only into ghost hunting for the money rather than passion. So when Chris Mac made what was essentially a historical comment about the Salem Witch Trials on a Haunted Warren post, he wasn’t attacking Matt — he was just sharing context. Matt saw it as a threat to his $166 admission racket and went full scorched earth.
Matt’s team is playing the sympathy card: a source close to Matt told TMZ he’s relentlessly bullied by “vile” commenters, and that context is missing because some comments were scrubbed. Cool story. But that’s not a defense for telling two separate people — one with autism — to kill themselves. That’s not “defending yourself.” That’s losing control. That’s someone who gets online mad and reaches for the nuclear button because his $166 museum got a historical comment on Instagram.
This isn’t Matt Rife’s first rodeo with controversy either. Last November his Netflix special “Natural Selection” got blasted for a domestic violence joke, with critics saying the women who built his TikTok career felt betrayed. When called out, he mocked people with an “apology” link that led to a website selling helmets for people with special needs. That’s the arc here: a guy who went viral on the backs of female audiences, who kept punching down, and now he’s telling disabled people and women online to kill themselves.
The 16BARS take: Matt’s ProbleMATTic tour sold over 600,000 tickets in under 48 hours — he’s got clout, a platform, and millions watching. Using that to tell an autistic ghost hunter and a woman in the comments to “unalive” themselves isn’t comedy. It’s cruelty masquerading as crowd-work. And when the crowd fights back, crying “bullied” ain’t the look either.
