Oliver Tree died on June 14, 2026, when the helicopter he was riding in collided in midair with a second helicopter over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 32-year-old singer was one of six people killed after the aircraft crashed into a car dealership parking lot in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood, triggering a fire that destroyed about 20 vehicles.
The American musician, born Oliver Tree Nickell, was touring South America to support his fourth album, Love You Madly Hate You Badly, when the crash occurred. Brazilian aviation investigators have since released a preliminary report pointing to a shared flight route and a radar gap as contributing factors, though a final cause has not yet been determined.
What Happened on June 14
Tree had just wrapped tour stops in Buenos Aires and São Paulo before arriving in Rio de Janeiro. Around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday, June 14, he was one of five people aboard a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter operated by a local charter company, Turfik Comércio de Frutas.
That aircraft collided midair with a second helicopter, an Aérospatiale AS350 Ecureuil, over the beachside district of Recreio dos Bandeirantes in Rio’s West Zone. After the collision, the wreckage fell into the parking lot of a BYD Auto electric vehicle dealership. The impact sparked an explosion and fire that consumed roughly 20 parked cars before Rio’s Military Fire Department brought it under control.
All six people aboard both helicopters died on impact. Besides Tree, the victims were:
- Gaspar “Gaspi” Prim Díaz, an Argentine YouTuber
- Lucas A. Vignale, an Argentine film director
- Lucas Frota, a Brazilian music producer
- Alexandre Souza, pilot of the Bell 206
- Charles Marsillac, pilot of the AS350, the sole occupant of the second aircraft
Because the post-crash fire caused severe thermal trauma, Rio police needed dental records to formally confirm Tree’s identity. That confirmation came on June 16, two days after the crash.
Was the Cause of the Crash Determined?
Brazilian authorities have not issued a final ruling on what caused the collision, but a preliminary report from Brazil’s aviation accident investigators gives the clearest picture so far. Three agencies are involved: CENIPA (the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center), SERIPA III, and ANAC, Brazil’s national civil aviation regulator.
CENIPA’s preliminary findings, released July 16, 2026, showed both helicopters were flying the same designated helicopter corridor at overlapping altitudes. The aircraft carrying Tree, tail number PP-MAC, was never detected by Brazil’s airspace radar system during its entire flight, while the second helicopter was tracked until moments before impact. Neither aircraft carried a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, though regulations did not require them to. Pilots on that route coordinate over an unmonitored radio frequency that is not recorded.
Investigators noted weather was not a factor. A briefing from Jacarepaguá Airport showed good visibility and light winds at the time. Rio police investigator Alan Luxardo said early in the probe that human error was a likely factor, and CENIPA’s report states that “no hypothesis has been ruled out” while forensic and operational analysis continues.
Key Facts at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Date of death | June 14, 2026 |
| Location | Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Cause | Midair collision of two helicopters; fire on impact |
| Age at death | 32 |
| Total fatalities | 6 (all aboard both aircraft) |
| Lead investigators | CENIPA, SERIPA III, ANAC |
| Identification confirmed | June 16, 2026, via dental records |
Who Was Oliver Tree
Oliver Tree Nickell was born June 29, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California. He built a career as a genre-blending singer, rapper, and producer known for viral stunts and an exaggerated public persona built around a bowl-cut wig and mustache. He signed to Atlantic Records in 2017 after “When I’m Down” went viral, and later scored international hits with “Alien Boy,” “Life Goes On,” and the Robin Schulz collaboration “Miss You.” His fourth album, Love You Madly Hate You Badly, released independently in April 2026 under his own Alien Boy Records imprint, launched what he billed as the first world tour to span all seven continents.
Aftermath, Burial, and Tributes
The U.S. embassy in Brasília authorized repatriation of Tree’s body on June 17, and it arrived in California by June 21. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Santa Cruz on July 24, 2026.
A public memorial, described by Tree’s team as a “celebration of life,” was held the next day, July 25, at the Quarry Amphitheater near his hometown. Logan Paul, Ethan Klein, and Diplo spoke at the event, which included unreleased music and props tied to Tree’s stage characters. Proceeds went to a grant fund Tree had asked his family to set up before his death, now operating as Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Art Grant for Baby Geniuses, a foundation intended to support emerging artists.
Tributes poured in from musicians and collaborators including KSI, Melanie Martinez, T-Pain, Bebe Rexha, Kid Cudi, Post Malone, and Diplo. Logan Paul, who had appeared with Tree on his podcast years earlier, called him “one of my favorite people” in a public statement.
Recent Development: Copyright Dispute Surfaces
In early August 2026, a new controversy emerged. Logan Paul claimed in a public statement that Tree’s music publisher filed a copyright claim against a years-old episode of his podcast that featured Tree’s music, doing so within about 48 hours of Tree’s death. Paul said Tree had personally arranged for the publisher to whitelist the episode while he was alive, and that the protection disappeared almost immediately after he died.
A Separate Rio Crash Is Not Connected
On August 8, 2026, a different helicopter, a Robinson R44 on a sightseeing flight, crashed near the Vista Chinesa lookout in Rio’s Tijuca National Park, killing the pilot and three Colombian tourists. This crash is unrelated to the collision that killed Oliver Tree in June, though several outlets referenced the earlier incident for context since both happened in Rio within weeks of each other. Some readers have conflated the two events, but they involve different aircraft, different victims, and separate investigations.
What Investigators Still Need to Determine
CENIPA has stated that examinations are ongoing across human, operational, airworthiness, and airspace-control factors. A final report with a determined cause has not been published as of this writing. The absence of radar detection for Tree’s helicopter and the unrecorded coordination frequency used by both pilots remain central open questions in the inquiry.
Related Reading: [Joe Keery 2026: Grammy Nod, Cold Storage & Broadway Debut]
