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The latest social media trend is seeing TikTokkers fabricate the deaths of their favorite Hollywood personalities, and recording others reaction to the news.
The trend is taking heat from online critics who claim it is not as funny as it seems.
"Eminem died at 50," a user said behind the camera in one video, eliciting a response of "No f---ing way."
In another, Jon Bon Jovi became one of the prank's victims with a user telling her Dad the singer had died.
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Icon for the popular video-based social media app TikTok that has come under scrutiny not only for spawning dangerous trends, but also for allegedly data mining for the Chinese Communist Party. (AP Photo/File)
"Shut your mouth! You're lying…" he shouted back.
Coined the "Celebrity Death prank," the trend calls on users to record themselves telling their friends and family members that their favorite celebrity has died, often through fake breaking news reports.
Responses to the death announcements vary, with some hurling profanity-laced screams at the camera while others weep or turn on the television to fact-check the claims.
"Oh my God, did you see [that] John Travolta passed away?" one prankster asked. A woman captured in the video frantically shouted, "No! He didn't die! Did he really die?"
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Jon Bon Jovi, singer of legendary rock group ‘Bon Jovi’ was among the list of stars who pranksters announced as dead to spark reactions from loved ones. (Shirlaine Forrest)
One family rushed to their television to check the news after a prankster pretended to read from her phone that Denzel Washington had died at 67.
In another video, the creator filmed her Dad playing golf as she told him that Tiger Woods had "died" at 46.
"It's on the news," the prankster said behind the camera.
She recorded her father as he threw his golf club and painstakingly dropped to the floor in shock.
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Actor Denzel Washington also became the subject of one prankster's shenanigans. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Cher, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Robert Plant, Bruno Mars and others also became the subjects of pranksters' shenanigans on the video-sharing platform.
Despite the uproarious laughter coming from some creators, others are refusing to take the prank so lightly.
While some shared the videos to Twitter and sparked laughter from some, others called the trend "sick," "stupid" and "insensitive."
Podcast host Jimmy Van called the trend "dumb," tweeting in full, "I guess I don’t get the joke. This is dumb, as are most TikTok trends."
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"Yeah, I'm not subscribing to this one," wrote BuzzFeed writer Myke Thompson. Actress and model Isis King criticized the trend as "weird."
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