A woman on a flight back to Nashville caught a man texting with his girlfriend and talking about the "fat" person sitting next to him. Because there was nobody else sitting in their row, she knew he was referring to her.
In a viral video, TikToker Landen Ewing recalled the incident happened about a month ago. She said she was able to see the man's phone while he was texting with his significant other.
"He has his phone out, like, way up front of him like where I can see it," she said of the man.
"Before anyone comes for me for looking at someone's phone...everyone does it, and if you say you don't, you're lying. So shut up," Ewing said with a smirk.
She continued saying how she was able to see the "girlfriend" had texted him and asked about his flight so far.
She was appalled when her wandering eyes caught what he wrote:
"Too small with this fat a** sitting next to me."
Warning: NSFW language.
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In response, the girlfriend wrote, "haha, tell her about keto" – referring to the low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet.
He continued texting the girlfriend and making references about her weight.
"I'll be all right; don't think we'll get off the ground."
According to Ewing, the man further complained that he "hates being on small flights with fat people."
Towards the end of the TikTok clip, Ewing had a special message for the girlfriend if she happened upon the viral video that received over a million views.
"If you're his wife or girlfriend and you see this, your boyfriend sucks," she said.
Despite the offensive private conversation, TikTokers shared interpretations of what they think really happened.
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Some people shared what they would have done in her situation.
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In a follow-up video, she assured fellow TikTokers she was not that upset about it.
"Didn't spend more than an hour thinking about it," she said.
She added at the time of the incident, she shared the text exchange with her family in the car when they picked her up at the airport because she thought it was funny.
However, she pointed out how this could have had a negative impact on a different person.
"Imagine if it was someone who was insecure or dealing with a lot of body image stuff," she said, adding it could have "ruined their whole day, week, year."
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The incident served as a reminder that it may not be wise to talk smack about people in your vicinity.
You never know if the intended recipient of your text is the only person reading it.
Or better yet, refrain from physically shaming people in general. It's not a good look.