For the past few weeks, there’s been a video going around of a woman who refuses to sit next to another passenger on a plane because she thought he was unvaccinated.
The video appears to be taken by another passenger, before the plane takes off. The woman explains that she wants to sit in a different seat. She asked her seatmate to show his vaccination card and he didn’t, which made her think he wasn’t vaccinated. Chaos ensued. “I work hard. I paid for my seat. Which is clearly going to put my life in danger!” she exclaimed as flight attendants try to calm her down and explain that it’s a full flight and she must stay in her own seat. She continues to escalate, explaining why she can’t sit next to him. “I cannot be made to breathe his oxygen!”
At this point, the pilot of the plane gets involved, saying, “Vaccinated or unvaccinated, we should respect each other.” The pilot adds that he will not tolerate “discrimination” against the unvaccinated on his flight. He then makes her leave the plane, to a round of applause from the other passengers.
Here’s the video:
@jeloy_25 She must have been having a bad day😢😢 – Watch Til the End #ctto #repost
When I first saw the video, something struck me as “not quite right.” The woman didn’t seem to be sincere – she just didn’t act like a typical irate American. The whole “Here’s why I’m not wearing a mask” situation seemed unrealistic. And why was there music in the background? Also, if someone was being forced to leave a plane, wouldn’t she have SOME sort of bag with her that she’d want to get first? And finally, what pilot getting ready to fly to their destination would call it, “London, England?” He’d just say “London,” no?
So yeah, I was skeptical. And as it turned out, yep, it’s a fake.
From Rolling Stone:
The video appears to have been engineered in a lab to achieve mass virality, particularly for an audience inclined to side with the airline crew. It has everything: a dramatic soundtrack; a buzzy social issue (in this case, vaccination requirements on international flights); a high-strung white woman, or “Karen” in internet parlance, publicly berating harried airline employees, and a stoic, barrel-chested authority figure to serve as the voice of reason during chaotic times.
About a week after the video was released, an eagle-eyed Twitter user discovered that the video has a name – “Covid Flight.” It was scripted and staged. Hell, it even has its own IMDB page (as do the actors who played the passenger and captain).
Found it. This short video is called Covid Flight, see IMDb: https://t.co/EwDiNiwUVI
Executive producer is Richard Williams aka @PrinceEa who also posted it on Facebook https://t.co/zFDTnZl7g8
Passenger on IMDb: https://t.co/bsajxH96CV
Captain on IMDb: https://t.co/ex6YJDYaFI https://t.co/Xzmteg5YHm— HoaxEye (@hoaxeye) November 8, 2021
Some of the people involved in the production had initially posted about shooting the video, complete with pictures and selfies, but have since deleted said posts (and/or their entire Instagram accounts).
Content creator Richard Williams is listed as executive producer of the film. Williams has nearly 6 million YouTube subscribers and regularly publishes similar staged videos that depict controversial social scenarios on his channel.
The video went viral, and as of this writing has just shy 37 million views on TikTok and close to 235 million views on Facebook. Unfortunately, when Williams initially posted the video in early November, he didn’t mention that it was a staged work of fiction. By his posting “Covid Flight” on social media without a disclaimer about its authenticity, the video was shared widely online with little context due to its controversial topic of vaccine requirements on international flights.
Since then, some social media outlets are warning that the video may not be all it appears.
When you click on the “See Why”:
But anyway, yeah – it’s fake.
Feature Photo: peakpx
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1 comment
One thing that I immediately noticed was the interior of the plane. It resembles a later Boeing 727 or a 737 of the same era. The overhead compartments are not the ones found in early 727’s. The Boeing 737-300 series has different style over head compartments. The current 737-800 has yet different ones, too, often in two styles, a newer and older style.
What 6 abreast plane could possibly fly to London, assuming that it is from the US (based on accents)? Of course, it could be an old style BRU-LHR-JFK on Pan Am with BRU-LHR on a 727 but that was before masks and vaccinations. 6 abreast could be on a A321XLR (not this plane) or possibly a 737-800 (not this plane).
Imagery analysis is a powerful weapon. Spy agencies do it all the time and ordinary people can try it.