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It's never that serious.
By Hawthorn Martin — Written on Feb 16, 2023
Super Bowl commercials are known for being memorable, but the 2023 Super Bowl ad for the streaming service Tubi left some unsavory memories for one couple.
Tubi’s advertisement was meant to pull a prank on audiences.
It showed a clip from the game with the commentators welcoming viewers back, and then switched over to a movie, making it seem like someone was actually changing the channel.
The ad is a total of 15 seconds long, but that was enough to confuse most households and send others into an uproar.
For one woman, however, the prank took a frightening turn.
She had to break up with her boyfriend after his violent reaction to the Tubi Super Bowl advertisement.
She goes on to explain that, like others, her boyfriend had believed that she was the one changing the channel on the Super Bowl.
“He began screaming at me violently, calling me things that I don’t even want to write down,” she wrote in her post.
Even trying to convince him that the commercial was, in fact, a commercial, was pointless since he refused to listen and just got angrier.
His anger took a physical turn, as he punched a hole in the wall of their living room.
Eventually, he realized that his girlfriend was actually innocent, and “awkwardly apologized,” but the damage was done.
The couple had been dating for over a year and living together for a couple of months.
The woman had seen her boyfriend get angry before, but never like this.
“This really took me off guard,” she wrote, “and I can’t forget how unsafe I felt around him during this.”
She decided that his escalation to violence over something as small as a 15-second ad for a football game was too much of a red flag to ignore, and left for her parents’ house.
She left him a note, and he has been trying to contact her since.
Unfortunately, her family doesn’t seem to be supportive of her decision.
“My parents told me that I’m overreacting,” she wrote, claiming that they believe the Super Bowl gets everyone riled up, but she doesn’t think she’s being unreasonable. “I don’t think it’s normal to be that angry.”
Commenters across platforms are siding with her for leaving him.
Many commenters on Facebook are expressing disgust with her parents, claiming that they aren’t showing concern for their child, even when she was clearly in a dangerous situation.
One person writes: “We make our children, friends, family — of any gender — unsafe by pretending that this kind of reaction from a partner is normal, perfectly acceptable behavior.”
Others on Reddit are expressing sympathy, sharing in their shock at the sudden show of aggression, and agreeing that his actions now hint that he will only get worse later.
“Jfc, that ad is not even 10 seconds long. It only took him that much to insult you and punch a wall, ultimately destroying your mutual trust? Yikes, that's scary,” one Reddit user said.
Another uses a wise quote, writing: “'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.' - Maya Angelou. Believe him, he’s got an impressive collection of red flags.”
Commenters everywhere agree, with one commenter even going so far as to say that Tubi’s ad may have saved this woman’s life.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit their website.
Hawthorn Martin is a news and entertainment writer living in Texas. They focus on social justice, pop culture, and human interest stories.