Richard Kyanka

Richard Charles Kyanka ((1976-05-11)May 11, 1976 – November 9, 2021), known by his username Lowtax (a reference to Byron (Low Tax) Looper),^[1] was an American internet personality who created the website Something Awful.^[2]

Richard Kyanka
Born	Richard Charles Kyanka (1976-05-11)May 11, 1976
Died	November 9, 2021(2021-11-09) (aged 45) Lee's Summit, Missouri, US
Nationality	American
Other names	Lowtax
Occupations	Internet personality media commentator YouTuber
Known for	Creator of Something Awful
Spouses	Megan Austin ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2014)​ Ashli Kathleen ​ (m. 2015)​

Other endeavors

In 2001, Kyanka was entered into the Entertainment Weekly (EW) Entertainer of the Year online poll, and went on to receive "thousands of votes", but was disqualified because EW judged they were the result of an email campaign.^[3]

In 2006, Kyanka accepted Uwe Boll's challenge to a boxing match, which Boll had issued to all his online critics. The match took place on September 23 in Vancouver; Boll knocked Kyanka out in less than two minutes.^[4]

On October 9, 2020, following a backlash from the community in response to allegations that Kyanka was a domestic abuser, Kyanka sold Something Awful to a fifteen-year member and moderator known under the pseudonym of Jeffrey of YOSPOS.^[5] Kyanka was subsequently banned from the site.^[6]

Death

Kyanka died by suicide on November 9, 2021.^[7]