The US Open fan holding a cocktail and appearing to watch as another man gave his wife a drink has spoken out, insisting that not everything is as it seems in the viral video.
Footage of the apparent awkward moment set the internet alight on Wednesday after a man in a light blue polo shirt was seen returning to his seat in New York with the tournament’s signature $23 “honey deuce” cocktail in both hands, before being seemingly snubbed by his partner sitting next to him.
After another spectator beat her to it by leaning over and handing the woman a drink first, her bemused reaction while still holding two cocktails quickly went viral on social media, with the US Open even sharing it on its official account.
However, the man in question has now given his version of events, denying he was left hanging that night and revealing instead that his wife was sitting in the row below him.
The US Open fan who was holding a cocktail and appeared to be watching as another man gave his wife a drink spoke out
The anonymous 43-year-old man, a Wall Street worker from Brooklyn Heights, sarcastically told the The New York Post‘It was very kind of the US Open to zoom in on me and not zoom out or let the video go on for two seconds longer.’
He then continued: ‘If you look closely at the bottom right corner of the video, you can briefly see a blonde with a bob haircut, and that’s my wife. She’s leaning towards me and I’m looking at her.
‘We were with another couple of friends of ours and we sat in stacked seats. My wife was sitting in the seat below the blonde lady, who is our friend, and her husband was sitting in the seat above her, so that’s why she gave him the drink.’
While the truth behind the video is a little different, the man confirmed that he was scorned by his real wife after the cameras zoomed away.
“There’s always a long line (at the bar), so I got one for the team and waited 25 minutes,” he continued. “When I got back to our seats, I was expecting my wife to say, ‘Thanks, honey,’ but she already had (a honey deuce) in her hand, so she said, ‘I don’t want it.'”
The fan in question claims that his wife was not sitting next to him, but in the row below him.
The US Open shared a clip of the viral moment, writing: “This is cinema.” It has since garnered over 11 million views on X.
The real wife of the man in question says they have been bombarded with messages since the video surfaced, which has provided them with “a lot of laughs.”
“We emailed the US Open because we were like, ‘Well, do we get some free tickets or something in exchange for this viral video?'” she laughed.