Culver City, California - TikTok users have sparked a new trend by pulling pranks about fake celebrity deaths, but it seems that the craze may have officially gone too far.

The viral trend, which grew popular during holiday family gatherings, has pranksters dramatically announce the fake death of the prankee's favorite celebrity.

While many saw the trend as harmless, controversy is beginning to stir as some call out the prank for being insensitive and disrespectful to the celebrities used.

Slater Vance, the teenage son of actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, received backlash for recently participating in the trend by pranking his parents with the fake news that Michael B. Jordan had died.

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Bassett appeared distressed when she was tricked, holding her hand to her heart and reaching for her son's phone.

Fans soon pointed out how cruel this particular prank was, as Bassett and Jordan both star in Marvel's Black Panther films, which were rocked by the tragic passing of leading man Chadwick Boseman in 2020.

Afterwards, Vance quickly took down the original video from TikTok and issued an apology.

"I would like to apologize for taking part in such a harmful trend," he said in a tearful follow-up video. "I apologize to Michael B. Jordan's entire family, extended family, and him directly as he is an idol of mine, and taking part in a trend like this is completely disrespectful."

With over 180 million views of the #celebritydeathprank hashtag on TikTok, it's clear that users can't get enough, but is this proof the trend has gone too far?

Vance is not the only one who has spoken out about the trend.

Last week, Bille Eilish's older brother and collaborator Finneas shared a video criticizing the pranks.

"I haven't laughed once at any of your videos of you telling your parents somebody died when they didn't actually die," he said on TikTok. "It's mean. Your parents are showing vulnerability for a brief second, and you're laughing at them. It's mean, stop."

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Many other social media users have raised concerns over the trend, arguing that it's never appropriate to joke about death in such a manner.

"Y'all gotta stop doing these celebrity death pranks on TikTok cause god forbid one really die .. the tongue is a powerful thing," one Twitter user wrote.

Bassett's son urged viewers to learn from his mistake in his apology video.

"I hope this can be a teaching lesson to anyone else who uses social media as a tool and a source of entertainment to truly understand that your actions can have consequences that extend beyond you," Vance said.

While the pranks can seem harmless to those with no real-life connection to the stars, Vance's video proved just how serious it can be.