In a video, Baerten addresses his guests at his funeral, saying, "Cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral," as quoted by The Times of London. Baerten explained his reasoning for faking his death: "What I see in my family often hurts me. I never get invited to anything. Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated. That's why I wanted to give them a life lesson, and show them that you shouldn't wait until someone is dead to meet up with them."
Baerten's appearance at his funeral via helicopter was captured in a video that has received over 5,900 likes on TikTok. People reported that Baerten included his family in the social experiment, with one of his daughters reportedly writing on TikTok before the service, "Rest in peace Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you. Why is life so unfair? Why you? You were going to be a grandfather, and you still had your whole life ahead of you. I love you! We love you! We will never forget you."
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TikTok is increasingly becoming a source for news, as well as pranks and social experiments like the one that Baerten reportedly sprung on his family. According to a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, part of Britain's University of Oxford, 55% of TikTok users and 52% of Instagram users get their news from "personalities" on the respective platforms rather than mainstream media and journalists.
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