A viral video showing a woman’s explosive tirade against a male passenger in the Atlanta airport led many viewers online to speculate what caused the sudden eruption.
The clip, posted on TikTok by @warrior_woman_77 last week, shows a visibly distressed woman shouting at a man at a crowded gate in Concourse B of the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The woman yells, “Do you want to beat me up? Do you want me to die? Do you want to f*** me? What do you want?!” at a male passenger who remains silent throughout the entire interaction.
She also shouted, “You push me! You do this to me!” before storming off in a rage. As she walks off, she turns back to yell, “What kind of man are you?!”
The woman who posted the video said that she and the other passengers were quietly waiting to board a late-night flight bound for Jacksonville, Florida, when the agitated woman suddenly approached the man and started telling him off without any noticeable cause.
Angry outbursts, arguments, and physical fights are all too common at airports and on flights, and videos of the incidents often go viral.
In October, another video made waves online that showed a woman at an airport in Savannah, Georgia, running from security while going on an unhinged rant against police near a Delta Air Lines ticket counter.
This most recent video of the woman’s outburst at the Atlanta airport garnered more than six million views and thousands of comments from people speculating about the cause of the tirade.
The Tiktoker who posted the 20-second clip initially thought the woman and man were strangers but later posted a follow-up video sharing her belief that the pair knew each other, echoing the opinion of numerous viewers.
“She boarded the plane after he did. My theory is that she probably went to another gate maybe to see if she could get her seats changed because they were on the same flight.”
Some commenters hypothesized that the woman didn’t just go on some crazed rant but was reacting to abusive treatment committed by the man she confronted. Others wrote about how they suffered similar experiences with former partners.
“She’s not crazy. This is called ‘reactive abuse.’”
“This guy knows her, no doubt. His silence says everything.”
Several others thought some commenters were taking their estimations too far.
“There’s no way you can tell what’s going on in this clip,” one person wrote.
“Ppl will make 100+ assumptions off a short video they see online,” another person added.
“Yes, of course there’s the possibility she’s losing it and doesn’t even know him. But my vote is he absolutely knows her!”
According to the mental health advocacy organization Charlie Health, reactive abuse occurs when someone has endured sustained abusive behavior and reacts aggressively toward their abuser. These kinds of responses can take the form of physical or verbal attacks that include yelling, screaming, insulting, or even assaulting an abuser.
Advocates say this behavior is a form of self-defense, since the victim is reacting to prolonged harmful behavior by their abuser, and should not be equated with abusive behavior.
Abusive partners, especially narcissistic ones, can often push their victims to provoke a reaction. When the victim reacts with anger or aggression, the narcissist can use this reaction to manipulate the situation further. They may portray themselves as the victim, justify their abusive behavior, and use the victim’s reaction as evidence to discredit their claims or deflect responsibility.
The TikToker who posted the video said that security wasn’t called and no further incidents between the man and woman took place on the flight, but she did notify a flight attendant to make the crew aware of the situation.
