During Sunday night's Super Bowl broadcast, much of America was scrambling for the TV remote as a Tubi ad tricked us into thinking someone was switching our beloved game to Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the Tubi streaming app.
The ad had viewers thinking the commercial break was over as the screen showed Fox Sports announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen commenting on the game.
But then, out of nowhere, applications showed up at the bottom and then Tubi—followed by the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie flick—was selected.
They got us good.
After realizing it was just a commercial, most of the mass hysteria and panic settled and viewers then admitted they'd been had.
Sadly, some, didn't find humor in the prank ad.
In fact, some reverted to anger and violence when they thought the championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles had been interrupted.
One woman with such experience posted on Reddit that she broke up with her boyfriend over his reaction to the commercial.
In her post, she explained that he believed she was changing the app and began yelling at her even though she tried to tell him it was just a commercial.
She shared he got so upset, he ended up punching a hole through the wall in their living room.
"[He] began screaming at me violently, calling me things that I don't even want to write down."
"Even as I told him it was a commercial he ignored me and kept blowing up at me and punched a hole in our living room wall."
The poster shared after realizing his mistake her boyfriend "awkwardly apologized," but she had already witnessed something she didn't want to be a part of.
"He eventually realized what actually happened and awkwardly apologized but I was so disgusted to his reaction over a 15 second commercial."
"I feel like if you can't keep your anger in check and get that violent over something so small I don't want to be around for it."
She shared while she's seen him get angry before, this particular reaction caught her off guard and made her feel incredibly unsafe.
She revealed her own parents think she's overreacting because "everyone gets riled up" for the Super Bowl.
Sadly, anger during sporting events has been tolerated for some time. Many—as in the case of the mentioned boyfriend—get a pass from others because stakes were high and alcohol was consumed.
Several on Twitter shared their thoughts on the Redditor's experience.
The Redditor deleted the post, but it definitely ignited a much-needed conversation about the correlation of domestic violence and sporting events.
A creator on TikTok shared some staggering statistics in a video about the Tubi commercial and sports-related violence.
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In the video, @aurora...star shared:
"Since Sunday, I've heard multiple stories of fathers screaming at their children saying it's their fault that the channel was changed, bartenders getting drinks thrown at their face and boyfriends punching holes in their wall, just to name a few."
"Several studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between sporting events and an increase in domestic violence reports."
@aurora...star then shared some eye-opening numbers.
"For example, in England, when their national team loses, there is a 38% increase, and when they win, there's a 26% increase."
"A study conducted in Alberta Canada showed that the domestic violence hotline had a 15% increase in calls during major sporting events."
"And in the U.S., looking at 900 NFL games over 11 years, there was a 10% increase in cities where their local team lost."
"It's also very important to know that nearly half of all domestic violence goes unreported."
While the Tubi commercial was meant to be humorous, it seems the 15 second prank was devastating and frightening for many.
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