Having state-of-the-art recording devices in the palm of our hands at all times, coupled with social media platforms that allow any ordinary person’s videos to go viral, basically means we get a lot of nosey people who like to be in other people’s business—and allow millions of others to join in, too. A recent viral video about a man cheating on a flight has brought up the question: Have TikTok sleuths gone too far??
Who Is ‘The Man Cheating On Airplane’ Video About?
This past weekend, TikTok user @carolinerened was on a United flight going from Houston to New York. She was sitting diagonally from a man and a woman who were very obviously flirting. According to her, she normally wouldn’t have cared but then she realized that the man was wearing a wedding ring and the woman he was sitting next to wasn’t his wife. That’s when she began to record their activity in a viral video that has since been deleted. Below is the original caption:
“If this man is your husband flying @United Airlines, flight 2140, from Houston to New York, he’s probably going to be staying with Katy tonight. Him and Katy met at the airport bar and haven’t left each others side since then. He convinced her to change her seat so she could sit next to him and they could drink. I don’t know his name but know hers because he keeps saying it. He’s also said his 8 year old daughter danced for the Astros opening tonight, he’s from Ft. Worth, says he’s a surfer and just got a new surf board, supposedly President of the company he works for and flying to NYC for business. I wouldn’t have known he was married if he hadn’t been wearing his wedding ring. Excuse me rubbing my eye, I didn’t know what else to do to self record. 😂Do your thing TikTok.”
After posting the video of him and the other woman flirting throughout the entire flight, she posted a follow-up video (that has also now been deleted) showing pictures of the two making out and then of their empty seats. Clearly letting her viewers know that they had gone to the bathroom together.
After Caroline posted the original “cheating husband” video, it climbed to over 31 million views. And because social media is full of self-proclaimed sleuths, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that the man in the video was Lynn Bryan Stacy, and that he was allegedly cheating on his wife Tanya. They also found out that Lynn and Tanya have kids together and that Lynn is a manager of a liquid transportation company(?!). After finding out that his information was being posted everywhere, he scrubbed all of his social media.
Have TikTok Sleuths Gone Too Far?
No cheaters are safe on TikTok. Caroline’s video going viral has sparked a lot of debate about if videos like this are helpful or going too far. Leading the internet to ask: Is TikTok in other people’s business too much? Some Twitter users expressed that taking time out of your flight to record someone for the entire duration of the trip is simply a weird waste of time. While others are claim Caroline is not really a girl’s girl since the cheater’s wife was basically doxxed and all of her information was put out there for the world to see. Yikes!
Still, as a woman who’s been cheated on and been with an emotionally abusive partner, I’m actually a huge fan of videos like this. This stuff isn’t new. Do you remember when people were posting pictures of their partners in Facebook groups titled “Are we dating the same person?” At the end of the day, exposing someone who’s cheating on his wife is only doing the wife a favor.
If you decide to be a dickhead and disrespect your partner, you deserve to be shamed and embarrassed. I understand the concern that this sort of public display could potentially be embarrassing for the wife, but you know what’s more embarrassing? Getting cheated on and being unaware. For anyone who thinks videos like this are “too far” don’t understand how stuff like “gossip” and “women looking out for women” can literally save women from from awful relationships and even worse… men.
Hate it when cheaters get exposed on the internet? Maybe don’t cheat.
