Doctored clip: Scoot stewardess tossing Singapore passport in #dontrushchallenge

With planes grounded for months over the Covid-19 pandemic, some cabin crew have switched tracks to help fill vacancies in other service sectors such as healthcare.

Others are doing their part in the fight against the coronavirus by staying home during the circuit breaker and keeping their spirits up by trying out viral challenges on social media.

While many flight attendants have attempted the #dontrushchallenge (which mostly involves them taking their time to get ready for 'work') in good fun, one Scoot stewardess found herself bombarded with angry comments for doing so.

An 18-second-long clip posted on Facebook page All Singapore Stuff on May 5 afternoon, started off with the flight attendant stepping out of an HDB flat with her luggage in tow.

Then, she stopped at the gate and rummaged through a bag, fishing out two passports — one from Singapore, one from Malaysia — before tossing the Singapore passport away.

Uh-oh.

The text accompanying the video, "Huh? Why got 2 passports? [sic]" and "Sorry, not this Singapore [sic]" didn't help things either.

When the clip was made its rounds on Facebook, a bevvy of angry comments poured in.

One directed his comments at Scoot's parent company Singapore Airlines: "…is the Scoot crew showing respect to the Singapore passport? They are putting your branding to shame!"

"Wanna joke also not using our passport pls [sic]," another Facebook user echoed and asked, "Basic respect for our country, do u have it? [sic]

Others warned that it's an offence to damage the Singapore passport.

Video edited out of context

Scoot told AsiaOne that the video shared by All Singapore Stuff is a cropped clipping of an informal video "created by some of our crew, taking part in the trending Don't Rush Challenge on TikTok".

"In the full video, the passport is shown to be tossed and then caught by another crew in the next frame, which is a recurring motif of the challenge." 

"Nevertheless, we have advised the crew to be mindful of and sensitive to the social media content that they create and post online."

A Facebook user who's a Scoot flight attendant backed up this explanation.

"Please do not assume!" she stressed.

AsiaOne located the original four-minute-long video posted on May 3, which showed that while the woman did 'throw' the passport, she did it to 'pass' it to her colleague who 'caught' it in another scene.

The footage also lacked the text that was overlaid in the clip shared by All Singapore Stuff.

Although the Facebook page has removed the clip, it remains unclear who had doctored the video.

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lamminlee@asiaone.com