Hoax Alert: The Waitress Who Smacked a Gropey Customer Was an Actress

8 million people and counting have watched the satisfying video.

Looks like that video of a female server smacking a handsy male customer was a hoax. France 24 reports (via Grub Street) the video, which has now been viewed over 8 million times, is a fake.

In the video, a waitress is seen approaching a customer at the bar for payment. He attempts to put cash into her bra, at which point she hits him and walks away. He leaps out of his stool and follows her; when she turns around, he grabs her butt. She immediately turns around and hits him hard across the face with what appears to be a menu. Media sources across the world denounced the man and cheered on the woman for giving him what he deserved. But France 24 decided to do some sleuthing.

A reporter happened to discover an identical video on YouTube that had been shared by the Russian restaurant, though that video had not gone viral. It turned out to be the original video, which had been created by the restaurant's marketing team with the intention of drumming up free advertising for the bar, Caesar Café.

The scene had been staged. The restaurant released this statement to France 24:

We knew that people like to watch fights. We came up with the idea of filming with a surveillance camera. All of the people in the video were professional actors. That said, the actress playing the waitress did have to hit the guy really hard to make it credible. She weighs 60 kilos while he only weighs 47, so the blow really hurt him. He was dizzy for the next hour. About twenty different local restaurants have already called to try and hire this waitress... even though she's a professional actress! We were planning to unveil the secret in a few days.

Restaurant-related hoaxes are somewhat common, as everyone appears to be looking for 15 minutes of fame. Last year, a family accused a KFC employee of kicking out their little girl because of the horrifying scars on her face. The story went viral and a crowdfunding campaign was started; it raised thousands for plastic surgury for the child. But when KFC conducted an internal investigation, the company found that the whole incident had likely been made up.

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