A video showing an individual falling down the steps of a plane has been miscaptioned in online posts in November as showing California governor Gavin Newsom.
News reports and posts in early October identified the individual as Republican U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville in 2014 during his tenure as coach of the college football team Cincinnati Bearcats.
A post on social media sharing the miscaptioned clip said: “#BREAKING: California Gov. Gavin Newsom falls down from plane’s stairs.” Another similar post said: “Down goes newsom,” referring to the governor.
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“That’s not the governor,” Erin Mellon, the communications director for Newsom, said via phone, referring to the video circulating online.
The clip appeared online in early October described as a resurfaced video of Tuberville in 2014.
A longer version of the clip with a wider camera angle can be seen in an Oct. 10 post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: “Old people fall all the time. Here’s 60 year old Tommy Tuberville falling down some stairs in 2014 before losing to UVA in… wait for it… the Military Bowl.”
Another widely-viewed post at the time by MeidasTouch co-founder Brett Meiselas, referring to the fall, was captioned “Tommy Tumbleville.”
Multiple news reports in October, including an article on an Alabama-based news site, identified Tuberville as the individual in the viral video, saying the fall happened in 2014.
A spokesperson for Tuberville did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The individual in the circulating video was misidentified as California governor Gavin Newsom.
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