The popular streaming service ‘Tubi’ had a very controversial commercial at the Super Bowl. This commercial included a bit where the channel appeared to change to the “Tubi” app. During this commercial, viewers of the Super Bowl grew incredibly angry. First, not knowing that it was not real. The biggest issue was that during this, a lot of viewers even grew violent: throwing things, yelling, and even going as far as physically assaulting those around them, thinking they were the ones who “changed the channel.”

Over the weekend thousands of stories about the reactions and even videos of reactions circulated social media. One of the stories that went viral was a post from a redditor titled “I broke up with my boyfriend after the Tubi Super Bowl commercial” which shed light on how many men acted towards the people around them during the ‘prank.’  “My boyfriend thought I was the one changing the channel” the redditor said “he screamed at me violently, calling me things I don’t even want to write down” (reddit r/offmychest). She continued to say how he “punched a hole in our living room wall” and how he only gave an “awkward apology” after. This really spikes some concern, not only because this was not even the full extent of things that people experience, but also because if this 15 second clip sets people off so violently what could happen if something more serious were to set them off?   

The Super Bowl will most likely decline another commercial like this since the events during Tubi’s has only added fuel to the ongoing claim that domestic violence spikes on ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ (which has been disproved for years on end according to Snopes and other news sites), however this year may make that claim true.