A TikTok couple is facing backlash after a resurfaced video of a prank has gone viral on multiple social media platforms.
The video shows a man waking up children to tell them about a tragic situation involving their mother.
“This is very important,” he said. “Don’t cry, ya’ll. Y’all didn’t hear the ambulance come last night? Y’all mother dead.”
The children are seemingly in disbelief, and the man reassures them that he will care for them.
“My mother’s dead?” one of the kids asked.
“Yeah. She had cancer, bro,” the man responded. “I told her I got ya’ll.”
“She not dead,” one of the children said before they burst into tears.
The child tells the man to stop recording as they beg to see their mother. Seconds later, the mother hops up from behind a pile of boxes to reveal that it was a prank.
The video, initially released last October by @nofakelove_lee, was met with negative criticism on social media and people slammed the adults for orchestrating the prank.
“I cannot believe how angry I am right now, like tears in my eyes mad bc why would you EVER. I swear this feels like emotional abuse,” one user reacted.
Another person added: “Parents like this need to be thrown in jail. How is pretending to be d3@d and recording your kids crying “funny” to you?”
“We need to get the law involved somehow yall not gonna keep getting paid from traumatizing your kids for views,” another person said.
The family responded to the backlash on Thursday, ultimately downplaying the death prank and saying they’re ignoring the comments.
“They think the prank is going to traumatize y’all later in life. Do y’all think the prank harmed y’all in any type of way?” the man asked. The children said it didn’t.
If you scroll down the family’s TikTok page, the content showcases their everyday life, mainly about children.
It shows their private moments, from phone conversations with their teachers to getting the kids ready for school.
According to TMZ, the family also recently came under fire for posting a video of one of the children opening up a Christmas gift with “Slim Tea” inside — which people viewed as a dig at her weight.
The videos come amid a growing conversation around children of influencer parents and how they’ve become more vocal about their resentment because every step of their life was heavily documented without their full consent.
