Police Skit

Does a video show a real traffic stop where an interaction with a nervous 16-year-old driver was captured on a police officer's bodycam? No, that's not true: The footage originated from a YouTube channel which discloses it sometimes uses professional actors to reenact original scripted content. The video was filmed in the Edgewater neighborhood in Miami, but the decal on…

Does real police bodycam footage capture the moment a woman appeared to vanish into thin air during a traffic stop? No, that's not true: This simulated footage shows actors in a skit depicting a "rapture pre-enactment." The end of the video clip was edited to remove the credits, obscuring that this short skit is part of the Perhaps Today campaign…

Does a video show a real encounter with a strange woman in the woods who asked hikers, "Did you see my other two guys?" No, that's not true: This video is a small clip from a long-format skit published by a paranormal YouTube channel in September 2023. The channel features mysterious adventures guided by an exploring app called Randonautica. Many…

Does a video show a real incident where British kids trapped a police officer inside a chain of locked shopping trolleys? No, that's not true: This video is a skit and the people are actors. The video was originally published on Facebook by the Official Jarvo69 Page, which boasts they are the "Greatest Prankster on Earth." The video resurfaced in…

Does a video of an ICE agent taking a U.S. citizen off a plane in Texas show a real incident? No, that's not true: The video was a scripted skit performed by actors, showing a person wearing a face covering and flashing a badge before removing a man from a plane. The TikTok account where it was originally posted features…

Does a video of passengers on a plane screaming while an "unknown creature is loose" show a real incident? No, that's not true: The video clip of the passengers screaming and jumping up on their seats to avoid an unknown critter running around the plane was a skit with actors. The TikTok page where it was originally posted features dozens…

Does a video of a woman in a green shirt bashing a tray table against the airplane seat of the man in front of her show a real incident? No, that's not true: The video clip of the man getting annoyed and eventually moving to the seat behind the woman and doing the same to her to teach her a…

Does a video circulating on social media show a real-life arrest of a woman "in her own garden for growing lettuce"? No, that's not true: The video originated from an account, Bodycam Declassified, that publishes video skits mimicking police bodycam footage. The timestamp in the clip doesn't match the format for this particular type of recording device seen on the…

Did a widely-shared video show an argument between a police officer and four undercover FBI agents on an airplane? No, that's not true: The people in the video were simply acting out a scripted scenario. The page that posted the sketch routinely publishes similar scripted scenarios, and is affiliated with Network Media, a company that rents out film sets to…

Does a viral video really show body camera footage of a "crazy Karen" being arrested for keying a Tesla and shooting the driver's side three times with a handgun? No, that's not true: The "Axon bodycam" timestamp in the video is a fake that does not match the struck-through zeroes seen in real police video time stamps. The bullet holes…