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In November 2021, a video supposedly showing a passenger being removed from a flight after complaining that her seatmate wasn't vaccinated went viral on social media. One posting on TikTok from Anjelo Tavera (Jeloy_25) racked up more than 35 million views: This video does not show a genuine, real-world incident. As first noted by the Twitter account Hoaxeye, this is a scripted and staged short film called Covid Flight. According to IMBD, the passenger in this video is played by Diana Winter, the pilot is played by Sean Pogmore, and the movie was directed by Jamie Hull-Greenwood. The film was produced by Richard Williams, better known by his stage name Prince Ea, who originally shared this clip to Facebook under the caption: VAXXED OR UNVAXXED, NO ONE SHOULD BEHAVE LIKE THIS ? ?. This caption was later revised to include a for entertainment purposes tag. Hull-Greenwood also acknowledged that this was a film production, not a candid video documenting a genuine incident on a plane, when he posted a selfie with the crew on Instagram: While this is clearly a scripted short film, not a candid video of a genuine incident aboard a plane, this context was often omitted as it was circulated online. The conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, for example, posted this video on YouTube under the title WATCH: Woman FREAKS OUT Over Unvaccinated Passenger On Plane. One reason people may have been taken in by this video — in addition to the fact that media outlets presented it without proper context — is that it somewhat resembles genuine pieces of candid footage that captured altercations over COVID-19 rules on planes. Most of those incidents, however, involved people who refused to comply with mask mandates, not people who insisted that others wear masks or get vaccinated. In August 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had levied more than $1 million in fines to unruly passengers, including close to 3,000 incidents involving passengers who refused to comply with mask mandates. Here are a few of the incidents listed by the FAA: It's also worth noting that Jake Cauty, who's listed as one of the producers for COVID Flight on the movie's IMDB page, talked about all of the COVID-19 precautions that take place on his film sets during a February 2021 interview:
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