TikTok trends can be a lot of fun, but there are often occasions when they go too far. Recently, it's become "funny" for people to tell their parents or friends that a celebrity has died, recording their reactions to upload to the social media platform. Slater Vance, however, may have taken things too far.
The son of Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story), he describes himself as a pop and indie artist.
On New Year's Eve, the 16-year-old uploaded a video that saw him break the news to his mom and dad that Black Panther and Creed star Michael B. Jordan had "died," aged 35. Bassett is visibly shaken by the news, immediately getting upset that her Black Panther co-star appears to have passed away.
This would, of course, hit her hard because the Queen Ramonda actress has already mourned Chadwick Boseman and talked openly about how much his sudden death affected her.
The backlash was immediate and vocal, prompting Vance to delete the original video and issue an immediate, tearful apology. You can watch both uploads below, and while this was an undeniably awful decision, it's worth remembering that he is just a 16-year-old kid.
We honestly don't know what he was thinking, especially as he must have seen first-hand what his mother went through following Boseman's passing after a lengthy, secret battle with cancer. Jordan plays Erik Killmonger in the Black Panther franchise, with Bassett's Queen Ramonda serving as the character's aunt by marriage.
So, as pranks go, this isn't funny, but attacking the teenager won't make it any better. As of now, neither Bassett nor Jordan have issued any sort of response.