He's played the funny guy in numerous romantic comedies, but Paul Rudd is being praised for a different kind of role on social media, after a heroic cameo where he appeared to tackle a man on a homophobic rant at a Dallas airport.
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It turns out the man in a checkered shirt and brown blazer wasn't actually Rudd, but that did not stop social media from going into a frenzy over the man who bears a striking similarity to the Anchorman star.
It is understood the actual man at the airport was Ben Kravit from Dallas, who works as a brand manager at Dr Pepper Snapple Brand and describes himself on his Twitter profile as a "food and wine enthusiast".
Amateur footage shows shocked onlookers, included the Paul Rudd lookalike, pulling off a crazed airport passenger who lets off an expletive-laden tirade at a homosexual man before kicking and punching him.
One man can be heard saying to the offender: "What are you upset about?"
"Queers is what I'm upset about!" The homophobic man shouted back in a thick southern accent. "This f***** right here."
A number of passengers are seen subduing the man before police come and arrest him.
Despite being handcuffed, the disgruntled man shouts out: "Let me tell you the reason why I did it: Because this is America, that's why. The same reason you get to live and breathe and walk black."
Neil Kennedy, whose brother Andrew filmed the incident, said he had a suspicion the man might have been on drugs at the time.
"We saw a very troubled man," Mr Kennedy said on the video. "We hope that he was under the influence of some kind of substance, because if he wasn't and that's his true personality, then he's going to have a long road in front of him."
Many celebrity gossip websites have reported that Rudd was at the airport getting his hands dirty fighting crime, but his representatives confirmed to Time magazine that Rudd was not involved.
Hundreds of Twitter users thought Rudd carried out a heroic deed, which prompted a flurry of misguided online praise for the 45-year-old with the hashtag #PaulRuddSavesLives.
So when news began filtering through that Rudd actually wasn't involved, people seemed to be a little let down.
"So Paul Rudd did nothing to stop a violent rampaging homophobe? #cancelRudd" tweeted Jonathan Chait.
"It's OK it wasn't him," tweeted Rebecca Burt Rose. "We came together on the internet. We believed in humanity. We believed in Paul Rudd #PaulRuddSavesLives."
