Cam Newton Goes Viral After Being Filmed Offering $1,500 to Switch Seats on Plane Ride

Cam Newton‘s trip to Paris for Men’s Fashion Week did not get the kind of attention the Carolina Panthers quarterback was hoping for. On his return flight home, he offered a fellow plane passenger $1,500 to swap seats so he could have some more leg room. Surprisingly, the man turned Newton down twice.

Eli Edwards caught the whole scene on video and shared it on Twitter on June 21. The video has racked up over 4.5 million times and was retweeted by over 4,600 Twitter users.

Edwards, who played football himself at Colorado State, told ESPN he ran into Newton at the ticket counter and instantly recognized him. He discovered Newton missed his first flight back to Charlotte, so he had to take a flight in economy seating that had a connection in Dallas.

Newton’s seat was uncomfortable for the 6-foot-5 star, so he offered a passenger in the exit row $1,000 first. He was surprisingly denied, so he upped the offer to $1,500 again. The passenger still rebuffed the offer.

Edwards said he believes the passenger did not recognize Newton. In fact, Edwards told ESPN he might be the only person who knew the 2015 NFL MVP was on the plane.

He said the passenger was also a tall 6-4, which might have explained why he wanted the exit row so much he turned down $1,500.

“The logic I’m going with is: when Cam offered the man money for his seat… the man’s legs started hurting, not his pockets,” Edwards tweeted.

“To me, it didn’t look like he was mad,” Edwards told ESPN of Newton, who sat through the rest of the 10-hour flight in his economy seat. “It looked like he slept about seven hours, so he couldn’t have been that uncomfortable.”

Newton recently had another offseason shoulder surgery, and threw for the first time this offseason during a three-day minicamp with his teammates on June 11-13. Panthers head coach Ron Rivera told ESPN on June 11 he was “pleased” with Newton’s performance during camp.

“He’s going through the steps of his recovery,” Rivera said of Newton. “I’m very pleased with him. I really was.”

Newton missed the last two games of the 2018 season. The Panthers finished a disappointing 7-9, after making the playoffs the year before.

“Obviously, he brings a lot of energy to the team,” running back Christian McCaffrey told ESPN. “And seeing him throw was really good. Getting the ball out of his hands, letting him go out and whoop it around a little bit … so it’s good. He’s done a heck of a job working hard and we’re happy to have him back.”

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