YouTube Star "King of Random" Grant Thompson Dies in Paragliding Accident at 38

YouTube star Grant Thompson, known for founding the King of Random channel on the popular video website, died in a paragliding crash earlier this week, several reports indicate. Thompson is survived by his wife and four children. He was 38.

Thompson's death was confirmed by a number of King of Random social channels, including but not limited to YouTube and Instagram. The King of Random YouTube channel, which was largely hosted by folks other than Thompson at this point, uploaded a brief video memorial yesterday confirming the tragic news.

View this post on Instagram

It is with great sadness to inform everyone that Grant Thompson passed away last night. Grant had great love and appreciation for his fans. We invite you to share your thoughts for Grant and the channel in the comments. Please do a random act of love or kindness today in honor of The King of Random. Grant’s legacy will live on in the channel and the global community he created.

A post shared by The King Of Random (@thekingofrandom) on Jul 30, 2019 at 2:04pm PDT

"It is with great sadness to inform everyone that Grant Thompson passed away last night," the video's description reads. "Grant had great love and appreciation for his fans. We invite you to share your thoughts for Grant and the channel in the comments. Please do a random act of love or kindness today in honor of The King of Random. Grant's legacy will live on in the channel and the global community he created."

At this point, it is unclear exactly what happened to cause the crash. A report from the Washington County Sherriff's Office states that a pilot, since identified as Thompson, failed to return on a paraglider near Sand Hollow State Park in Utah on July 29th, triggering a call to the office. His body was later discovered after his cell phone's GPS data was used to determine his location. The paragliding equipment and video recording gear were recovered.