The comments on these social media posts show that a significant number of viewers believe the video depicts a real-life incident, like the anti-mask plane tantrums that have gone viral during the pandemic. And some conservatives have deployed this new video for political purposes, using it to make a point about out-of-control, irrational or hypocritical vaccinated people.
Prince Ea added a vague three-word disclaimer, “For entertainment purposes,” to his initial Nov. 1 Facebook post of the plane tantrum video — under the title “SHE MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING A BAD DAY.” But through at least November 11, he kept posting additional versions of the video, under titles like “WHEN THE PILOT CAME OUT” and “WHEN SHE ASKED FOR HIS VACCINE CARD,” that included no disclaimer.
In addition, Prince Ea added the “for entertainment purposes” tag to his own post, not to the video itself, and subsequent viewer comments on the post demonstrate that those three words were either not direct enough or not visible enough to convey to all viewers that the footage was staged. Also, the “for entertainment purposes” tag is not even visible to all viewers of the initial Facebook post — for example, to people who are sent a direct link.
And the tag does not appear at all on the TikTok video, which was posted by a user named Anjelo Tavera.
About a week and a half after Prince Ea’s initial post of the video, after it had already received 24 million views, Facebook added a fact-check warning — saying that independent fact-checkers had found that the video is “missing context and could mislead people.” No such official warning appears on TikTok.
Proof the video is staged
Here’s how we know for sure that the video isn’t from a real-life flight.
After seeing Hull-Greenwood’s name on the IMDb page, we looked up his Instagram page. And there was definitive proof that the viral video was staged.
On October 27, Hull-Greenwood posted three photos of a “micro short” shoot he said he was doing on an airplane “for Prince Ea.” And one of these Hull-Greenwood photos was of the actors who can be seen in the viral video — as they posed, in costume, inside a plane that looks identical to the one in the viral video. “Great cast, another great shoot,” Hull-Greenwood wrote in his caption.
Hull-Greenwood removed public access to his Instagram account after CNN and others inquired about the viral video, so the photos of the shoot are no longer visible.
Other than Easton, nobody connected to the video — Hull-Greenwood; Prince Ea; the actor who played the tantrum-thrower and the actor who played the pilot; the film company involved — responded to CNN’s requests for comment.
Used as a political tool
Still, many other viewers took the video as authentic. And it was quickly deployed for political purposes.
Turning Point USA, the right-wing student group, posted it on YouTube last Saturday with the title “WATCH: Woman FREAKS OUT Over Unvaccinated Passenger On Plane”; this Turning Point post alone had more than 227,000 views as of Wednesday.
Turning Point USA deleted its YouTube post of the viral video on Wednesday night, shortly after CNN informed the group that the video was staged and that we were planning an article. A spokesperson, Andrew Kolvet, said deletion was “an easy call” given that the footage turned out to be inauthentic. Tatum did not immediately respond to a request for comment we sent through his website.
Where the video came from
For example, two other Prince Ea videos are titled “Racist Lady Gets Covid-19. What Happens Next Will Shock you!” and “ANGRY MAN ATTACKS DOCTOR, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL SHOCK YOU.”
The actual content of those previous Prince Ea videos, however, appears at least somewhat more transparently fictional and more professional than the content of this new plane video. This one was filmed in a manner that mimics the look of actual viral videos — many of them of anti-mask tantrums — filmed this year by actual plane passengers.
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