Did a video shared widely in June 2025 authentically show a real airline passenger spanking a woman who was attempting to exit her seat on to the aisle? No, that's not true: The footage came from a sketch posted to Facebook by a user who regularly posts similar scripted scenarios. The same actors can be seen in other sketches on at least two "content creator" pages.
The video was presented as authentic in a June 7, 2025 post on X (archived here) which had been viewed nearly 24 million times at the time of writing. It can be watched below:
Look at Bob freaky azz co-signing his bad behavior 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/6Yd3cLaydP
-- PoloMan (@polo_man404) June 8, 2025
The footage did not depict a real incident, but rather actors acting out a scripted sketch.
It originally appeared in a June 6, 2025 post on Facebook, on the account of Ebony Merkerson, who describes herself as a "content creator". She is the woman shown in the sketch.
Merkerson regularly collaborates with another self-described "digital creator" using the moniker "JonW", who posted a variation on the same sketch to his own Facebook page on May 31. He portrays the white man shown in both videos:
(Source: Facebook screenshot)
Both can be seen in various other sketches on both pages, playing a variety of roles.
