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If you didn’t know, there was a trend going around on TikTok wherein a young prankster would tell—usually adult—relatives a certain celebrity had died. Not in good taste in general, but particularly awkward and poorly done if your parent is friends with and worked with said celebrity before.
Slater Vance—16-year-old son of acclaimed actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance—found this out when he tried the prank out on his parents over the holidays.
In a now-deleted video on TikTok, he pranked his parents and said Michael B Jordan died.
\u201cAngela Bassett\u2019s son joined in on the fake celebrity death announcement TikTok trend, and told her that Michael B. Jordan passed away.\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1672525185
It did not go well, especially because first, Bassett worked with Jordan on Black Panther. And second, in that same movie she also worked with Chadwick Boseman who did actually pass away unexpectedly.
Lesson seemingly learned, Slater Vance posted his apology on TikTok saying he was sorry and he hopes others can learn from his mistake.
“I hope this can be a teaching lesson to anyone out there who also uses social media as a tool and a source of entertainment to truly understand that your actions can have consequences that extend beyond you.”
@slater.vance Visit TikTok to discover videos!
Having his apology be public after his mistake was also public was good parenting, people said.
\u201cThis is what accountability looks like. Parents doing their job. Props to Angela Bassett & Courtney B. Vance -- and to this kid, Slater! \ud83d\udcaf\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffd\u201d— Celia C. Peters (@Celia C. Peters) 1672693224
\u201c@rapalert6 \u201cY\u2019all got him apologizing\u201d NO\u2026his PARENTS got him apologizing\u2026for telling them one of their closest friends suddenly died. As a joke. Some parents still make their kids act right even if you don\u2019t.\u201d— Rap Alert (@Rap Alert) 1672534390
Not many people wanted to be on the other end of that family discussion.
\u201c@fairybrandmuva_ Guess they had a lonnnnggg talk w/Slater Vance.\nhttps://t.co/UVux3ZsYDs\u201d— DOM \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83c\udf3e (@DOM \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\u200d\ud83c\udf3e) 1672508995
\u201cSomething tells me that this is how the conversation went:\nhttps://t.co/zVrnZfQo86\u201d— Chris Salazar (@Chris Salazar) 1672578575
Some were wondering why the backlash for a widely used trend was just on this one kid.
\u201c@rapalert6 So just because his parents are famous why is he getting backlash it\u2019s thousands of people doing that same trend \ud83e\udd74\ud83e\udd28I\u2019m confused why he\u2019s getting backlash\u201d— Rap Alert (@Rap Alert) 1672534390
It was the context, others replied.
It's a tasteless prank when it's a celebrity a person only knows of, but very different when the person is a friend.
\u201c@jadaMichell2 @rapalert6 Because it\u2019s not about them being famous. In this case he didn\u2019t use a random celebrity, he used a coworker/friend of his mother\u2019s from a movie where they already lost someone. Think about coworkers, classmates, etc you\u2019re friends with and someone told you they died.\u201d— Rap Alert (@Rap Alert) 1672534390
Generally, everyone seemed OK now that the teen issued an apology.
\u201c@ERnurse86 I'm glad his parents seemingly made sure he did that. Maybe they didn't??? Either way they're raising him to know that if you make a public mistake, your apology needs to be public too & I appreciate that. That's a good lesson to have especially since he's learning so young.\u201d— Tanesha, BSN RN Karen Kryptonite (@Tanesha, BSN RN Karen Kryptonite) 1672631750
But this incident certainly highlighted how actually not-great the trend was to begin with.
In essence it's just cruel.
\u201cI didn\u2019t know it was a trend until I saw the Slater Vance apology video. Who thought that was a good idea to begin with??\u201d— Sie Donnas (@Sie Donnas) 1672554555
Indeed.
Here's hoping the next TikTok trend isn't as tasteless and hurtful.