Bear with us, this one may get confusing.
The denizens of the internet got all excited yesterday after footage emerged of a kerfuffle at Dallas Airport, in which a man exhibiting some decidedly homophobic behaviour got something of his just desserts.
The video - of a number of bystanders tackling an angry individual who appeared to assault a stranger, and wrestling said homophobe to the ground whereupon he was promptly 'cuffed and arrested - already had plenty of appeal for the online crowd (bad man gets his comeuppance, heroic strangers come together etc.) until somebody said...
'Wait a minute, is that Paul Rudd'?
Yes, it appeared indeed as if one of the men wrestling the bigot carpet-wards indeed bore a striking resemblance to the 45-year-old star of such comedic milestones as Anchorman, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, This is 40 and lest we forget, an ardent fan of the delights of Donegal.
Check out the original video for yourself below (warning: NSFW for language and generally objectionable behaviour from the man at the centre of the incident):
Missed it? The Rudd-a-like is the guy who comes running in from the back as it all kicks off, wearing a green (olive?) sports coat and helping to pile on to the guy.
As the video spread online after being posted to YouTube, questions were asked. Namely - HEY YOU GUYS IS THAT PAUL RUDD?
It being a quiet Monday on the internet, the hashtag #PaulRuddSavesLives was soon trending, even as nobody was actually sure if it was him or not.
Yeah, I watched that video and I'm quite familiar with Paul Rudd's face. I think it's him. It's Ant-Man. @SaraJBenincasa #PaulRuddSavesLives
— Your Friendly Neighborhood Spinster. (@starfishncoffee) October 27, 2014
Soon, things got out of hand.
I'm from Kansas. I once saw Paul Rudd save a busload of orphans and nuns. #PaulRuddSavesLives
— Kathy Roberts (@wrobertswriter) October 27, 2014
Really out of hand.
Paul Rudd is the myth Chuck Norris wants to pretend he is. #PaulRuddSavesLives
— Crutnacker (@Crutnacker) October 27, 2014
Alright, that's enough.
Paul Rudd is made with bits of real panther, so you know he's good. #PaulRuddSavesLives
— Gillian (@traveling2taste) October 27, 2014
Amid the madness, the plot thickened yet further (as plots are wont to do) when it emerged that Paul Rudd had indeed been spotted on an internal US flight that day, and was wearing an olive sports coat (olive! I knew I was right) and checked shirt.
Alas, it was not to be.
First, Rudd's publicist told TIME magazine that it wasn't him, then tweeter Sara Benincasa (remember her?) who originally spotted the Rudd-ness in our airport hero, updated her timeline with the news that we had a name and an ID for the actual guy in the video - Dallas dweller Ben Kravit, who works in marketing for Dr. Pepper and actually is the spitting image of Paul Rudd.
Kravit confirmed to website Mediaite that yes, it was in fact him in the footage.
@TheMattWilstein not Paul Rudd but that's me. Happy to stand in for him if he ever needs it. #PaulRuddSavesLives #doppelganger
— Ben Kravit (@bkravit) October 27, 2014
And unfortunately for his many new female fans, he was taken.
So that was that then. Bar the hashtag #BenKravitSavesLives, which made a brief appearance.
But it wasn't the same :-( .