TikToker apologises for obituary-style travel announcement: 'This was a stupid post'
A TikToker's attempt to join a humorous trend for his travel announcement backfired when the obituary-style post alarmed his loved ones, leading to a hasty takedown and apology.
Fauzi Azzhar, who goes by @fauziazzhar and is known for his mental health content, acknowledged that the post had made people "scared for a split second".
The 37-year-old explained that receiving messages from loved ones checking in on him made him realise how misguided the post was.
Captioned, "I'm sorry! except for the 1 fella I just blocked." the apology clip posted on Dec 22 has since garnered over 52,100 views, 1,431 reactions and 129 comments.
''Very inauspicious, very pantang'
In his now deleted obituary-style post, Fauzi framed himself as a "Clowntent Creator" to inform his followers that he would be on leave from Dec 22 to Jan 2, and overseas from Dec 28 onwards.
Fauzi later removed the post to prevent it from "going too crazy", and admitted the irony of sharing something that contradicted the mental health content he is known for.
Explaining the challenge of balancing comedic content with discussions on mental health, Fauzi later said in another post that the "obituary" post could make people doubt a legitimate "real deal" announcement if one were ever made.
'Like that story, a boy in a wolf suit': Netizen
"The thing was that I was afraid at first, then I remembered that you are a comedian," one netizen wrote.
Other netizens praised him for being reflective and taking down the post, agreeing that "mental health and comedy can be a very fine line to walk".
"I had a panic for a bit. DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN," a commenter chided, while another said: "Sometimes dark humour is what ppl [sic] like us need."
One user also likened the consequences of the trend to the classic fairytale The Boy Who Cried Wolf, saying that such things should not be joked about.
Recently, several companies that used obituary-style posts as a marketing tactic to recognise their employees, but has since faced backlash.
