A viral clip showing a number of passengers singing religious music accompanied by a singer strumming an acoustic guitar in the aisle of an EasyJet flight has polarized the internet.
According to TMZ, the deleted clip was originally posted on Facebook by Jack Jensz Jr., a pastor and a co-founder of Kingdom Realm Ministries–a religious organization based in Philadelphia.
The clip was reposted on Twitter by user @davenewworld_2, where it racked up over 18.6 million views.
The account tweeted the video with the following caption:
"Imagine you get on a plane and you have to listen to this."
Imagine you get on a plane and you have to listen to thispic.twitter.com/RpY8d7RK4Y— Fifty Shades of Whey (@Fifty Shades of Whey) 1650106909
In the clip, a handful of passengers can be seen singing along to what appears to be a song of praise while other neighboring passengers look visibly unamused by the unexpected in-flight entertainment.
Twitter users gave mixed responses to the airborne religious experience.
Some people ignored the negative comments and gave the performance high praise...
I would love it. \u201cGive thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.\u201d Psalm 100:4-5— Mike Rack (@Mike Rack) 1650157805
Are we becoming so intolerant that we can't just ignore something that we dislike? They aren't hurting anything— Kim Young (@Kim Young) 1650110489
Sick of the hypocrisy. \nWhat if this was a glee club from a HBCU? \nOr the Ebeneezer Baptist choir?\nAnytime I hear live music, I listen and enjoy the moment.\nAnd, though not Catholic, I appreciate what The Church did to promote The Arts in the Middle Ages.\nSing all you want.— MrRipVan Winckel (@MrRipVan Winckel) 1650160684
I love Gospel music. Get some ear plugs if it bothers you.— BLove Sigma (@BLove Sigma) 1650116713
Hey guys it is Easter. It\u2019s a celebration of Christ. It\u2019s all good until it inconveniences you. Real mature.— Shawn Bishop (@Shawn Bishop) 1650127750
Crazy how people would rather listen to songs about guns drugs sex and violence but won\u2019t STAND listening to at least two positive songs about God, I ain\u2019t perfect but some positivity and good vibes every once in a while won\u2019t and can\u2019t hurt.— Oneil\ud83e\udd77\ud83c\udffc (@Oneil\ud83e\udd77\ud83c\udffc) 1650244137
...but a strong majority didn't.
I\u2019d do thispic.twitter.com/RXajy2Qx4d— \ud83c\udd71\ufe0fustin (@\ud83c\udd71\ufe0fustin) 1650127831
[Record-Scratch]\n[Freeze-Frame]\n\u201cYup, that\u2019s me. You\u2019re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation\u2026\u201dpic.twitter.com/6wYE9LxTiS— Glenn Polley (@Glenn Polley) 1650115381
This is terrorism.— The Church Of Satan (@The Church Of Satan) 1650147068
They did this knowing it would annoy people. If nobody complained then they would say to their young followers 'people love it when you stand up for God,' and if it went poorly they would say 'look how much people hate Christianity, we need to stand up for God'— Cessecce (@Cessecce) 1650122249
Dudes face in the blue shirt speaks for everyone. I would be so mad that they did this. Not that they cannot praise and worship, but that they used a space that forces you to listen. That's like if someone started discussing the Holocaust from the German side and how it was great— Nino Brown (@Nino Brown) 1650199049
Ooof, hard pass. Love the FML look from blue shirt guy. \n\nThankfully, there will be less of that in public with each passing year. I\u2019m all for people believing what comforts them, but no need to subject others to it in a public space.pic.twitter.com/DAbf4cpRwh— Michael O \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Michael O \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1650108835
Pro guitarist/lover of guitars here. I\u2019d support someone going full \u201cBelushi\u201d (ie \u201cAnimal House\u201d) on the guy. More practically, the staff should\u2019ve put a stop to this insanity right away. It\u2019s not only causing a disturbance to most passengers but inflicting religious propaganda.— Alex Skolnick \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Alex Skolnick \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1650127121
Some people wanna relax, sleep, etc... Enjoy their flight in peace and relative quiet?\n\nAnd not have a bunch of people screaming about their religion.\n\nNot everyone is Christian nor do they want to be.— B E A R Z E R K (Growlr/Grindr) (@B E A R Z E R K (Growlr/Grindr)) 1650157839
Even Christians questioned the group's methods.
A trapped audience doesn't usually engender endearment.
Why is this allowed? More importantly whatever happened to hiding your light? This NEW Christianity is really about imposing one's beliefs upon another and is becoming pervasive. Be vigilant. I pushed our company to request an employee stop signing her email with Bible verses.— Susan at the Shore \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Susan at the Shore \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1650120863
As a person of faith, I implore you: don't do this. St. Francis of Assisi said it best: preach the gospel every day, and only if you have to, use words. This kind of thing just turns people off, and rightly so.— Kim Possible \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udcda (@Kim Possible \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udcda) 1650117053
I\u2019m a Christian and even I know that this is too much first of all you aren\u2019t bringing people to God with this only pushing them away secondly they did this knowing people would obviously be annoyed with it thirdly can\u2019t they read the room it\u2019s a plane for Gods sake some people— Nannoskcals (@Nannoskcals) 1650249603
While the date of the religious performance is unclear, Jensz Jr. posted the clip on Instagram dated April 9.
But the media outlet did find Jensz Jr. and his congregation had been in Europe recently, helping provide aid to Ukrainian refugees after their country's invasion by Russia.
Their humanitarian mission was verified on Instagram by Jensz Jr.'s wife, Lily, who posted a picture of them handling a large collection of groceries.
“Church, because of your generosity, we were able to supply a van full of medicine, food, hygiene products to two pastors who host refugees in their cities from Eastern Ukraine as well as help their congregation and city as products are impossible to get now in their area," she wrote in the post's caption, adding, “They were overwhelmed with your generosity!”
According to the congregation's Facebook timeline, TMZ said the clip could have been from the group's flight to Germany around April 9–which would indicate the viral clip is over a week old.
