History Main / MistakenForCheating

** Another episode had a woman suspect her husband of cheating on her during his annual hunting trips, assuming the jewelry he always brought back for her was an apology. [[spoiler:Turns out, the husband was a ''serial killer'', and the jewelry was trophies from his victims.]]

* In ''Series/That70sShow'', Donna finds a pair of panties in Eric's car. She logically gets angry and believes Eric is cheating on her with a girl named Shelley. [[spoiler:The panties belong to Donna's mother Midge... since she and Bob had some "fun" in there.]]

** Mary Jane walks in on Sarah Stacy kissing Peter--though not quite as dramatized as the one she gives him on the cover of #25--and is ''very'' unamused that he would be making out with the daughter of his old flame.

* One ''ComicBook/{{Archie|Comics}}'' story had Archie's mother borrow his jacket and accidentally leave a tube of lipstick in the pocket. Betty and Veronica later borrow Archie's jacket and find the lipstick. They think that Archie is seeing another girl because the lipstick isn't either of their brands and angrily confront the baffled Archie. Betty and Veronica both dump Archie, but then they realize that this will just make him go after the girl they think he's seeing now. They both come back and smooch Archie to show that they're better than the competition. The story ends with Archie's mother realizing what she did and apologizing if she caused him any trouble, but a love-dizzy Archie just tells her to cause as much of it as she wants.
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Tim gets [[ForcefulKiss forcefully kissed]] by a StalkerWithACrush and his girlfriend Stephanie, in an out of character moment used to propel her into the role of Robin and kill her off, sees it after a period of distance between them, decides he's cheating on her and refuses to talk to him for a couple of months.
* Mary Jane Watson's Aunt Anna once tried to get her to face the "truth" about Peter Parker's apparent infidelity, what with all his sneaking around at odd hours and missing commitments with the flimsiest of excuses; this aggravated MJ enough to evoke a SarcasticConfession: her husband was really Franchise/SpiderMan.
** The villain Queen [[ForcefulKiss kissed a defeated Spider-Man]]. Photos and news of the kiss quickly spread around New York, about how the two foes were battling before suddenly ''Spidey'' kissed ''Queen''. Even Aunt May and Mary Jane thought that Peter was the one who kissed her, instead of the other way around.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** Superman had to deal with this in ''Action Comics'' #822 by Chuck Austen, when ComicBook/{{Lois|Lane}} discovered a pair of ComicBook/LanaLang's panties in their bed which the jealous Lana had planted during her last visit.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:

* One ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comic book story has Homer repeatedly moaning "Selma" in his sleep, which (along with a few other events) leads Marge to the improbable conclusion that Homer is cheating on her with her sister. At the end of the story, it's revealed that Homer has actually been dreaming about a pork festival in Selma, Massachusetts.
* In one comic, ComicBook/TheJoker decides to mess with a rehabilitative Two-Face by suggesting that his girlfriend and best friend [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] are fooling around behind his back and want to keep him locked up in Arkham. To give it one final push, Joker has one of his goons make a fake newspaper article that Bruce and the girlfriend were getting engaged and slipped it to an already suspicious Two-Face. Two-Face then loses it, escapes from Arkham, proceeds to kidnap his girlfriend, and [[MurderTheHypotenuse attempt to murder]] Bruce.

* ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'': Every time Daisy sees Donald with Kay K believes Donald is cheating on her. And this naturally is followed by use of ICanExplain and BlatantLies.
* In ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Vol 1'' #289, Light Lass looks for Timber Wolf and Saturn Girl -her boyfriend and sister-in-law, respectively- after they go missing during one mission. They're hugging each other when she finally finds them, and no matter how many times Timber Wolf explains he was trying to reassure Saturn Girl because she was severely upset, Light Lass doesn't fully believe him. During ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', six issues later, she still thinks Timber Wolf maybe cheated on her with her sister-in-law.
* Implied in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', when Rewind approaches his husband Chromedome's good friend Brainstorm asking him where Chromedome is, and mentions that Chromedome has been saying Brainstorm's name in his sleep. Brainstorm completely misses the point, and assumes Rewind thinks that he and Chromedome are working on a super-secret project together. (Rewind's response: "Er, I didn't until you said that.") As it turns out, that's exactly what they've been doing, although Chromedome keeping the very grave nature of the project a secret ends up having repercussions on his and Rewind's relationship regardless.
* ''Comicbook/TheFlash'': From ''Flash'' #270-275, Barry Allen was being mind-controlled by a woman called Melanie, who eventually managed to bring him to a motel where she made him remove his mask ... and was then disappointed at how "ordinary" he looked and released him. By this time, Iris had become suspicious enough to put a tracking device in his costume, but when he explained the truth to her, she found it funny.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'' Tim gets [[ForcefulKiss forcefully kissed]] by a StalkerWithACrush and his girlfriend Stephanie, in an out of character moment used to propel her into the role of Robin and kill her off, sees it after a period of distance between them, decides he's cheating on her and refuses to talk to him for a couple of months.

* The TV film ''A Love to Remember'' (2021) sees Tenley accidentally claim to be the wife of her online crush Jared when he has an accident and is left in a coma on the morning they were meant to meet in person. At one point, Jared’s girlfriend Larissa comes to apologise to Tenley as Larissa assumes she was basically Jared’s mistress (prior to this the rest of Jared’s family thought Larissa was just a good friend Jared dated years ago), but Tenley explains the truth and apologises for the misunderstanding.

%%* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' has a classic early example.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3228846/1/The-Beginning-of-a-New-End The Beginning of a New End]]", while Ash and Misty aren’t dating at the time it happens, they experience an equivalent such moment when the two are on a new journey through Kanto after Ash won the Hoenn League. At one point, Ash leaves Misty in Saffron City while he allegedly goes off into the woods for a training session with Pikachu. However, when Ash is talking to Misty on a vid-phone and May appears behind him, Misty assumes that this means Ash left her in Saffron City- a place she still has nightmares about- just to visit May in Johto. Fortunately, Ash is able to get back to Misty in time to explain that he was just in Johto to capture a Tentacool for Misty for her birthday, and May’s presence at the same time was a complete coincidence.

* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'':
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blilnl-Qv9E Kuroki suspects that his girlfriend Tsutsuji is cheating on him]] because of her unusual behaviors after a get-together party with his friends and their girlfriends. [[spoiler: It turns out she is interested in [[CosplayOtakuGirl cosplaying]] after interacting with Yuri and Karin during the get-together party, causing Kuroki to [[{{Nosebleed}} nosebleed]] and start being supportive of her hobby.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEsCUXYktTc Karin]] thinks her father Akamatsu is cheating on her mother Tsutsuji with someone with the nickname Acchan. [[spoiler: It turns out that Akamatsu started calling Tsutsuji by Azalea during their high school days and the nickname later became Acchan after they started going out.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R45-NTsv6Y Karin]] was exhausted because she was taking care of her elderly mother-in-law Tsutsuji and barely had time for herself. After Tsutsuji begins voluntarily going to a daycare center for elders during the day, Karin celebrates having more time for herself by getting a makeover. This leads three other housewives in the neighborhood, Akane, Yuzuriha, and Azami to assume she's cheating on her husband (even though she had just explained to them why she was dressed like that). Rather than planning on telling on her or anything like that, however, they instead invite her to a "party" where they say there will be a lot of hot guys. In response, Karin just rats them out to their husbands.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWqMUJ1vHcA Azami]] suspects that her mother Akane is cheating on her father, Tachibana, with another man named Akamatsu, causing her to act coldly towards her mother. [[spoiler: Akamatsu is revealed to be Tachibana's younger half-brother from his mother's side, making him Azami's uncle, who currently lives overseas. The reason he kept visiting Akane because he was teaching her English when he returned to Japan when Azami was 5 and flew back when she was 12, their hugging each other turned out to be a way of greeting people overseas, the fact he took many photos of Azami because he wanted to show them to her grandmother, who also lives overseas, and they were always together with Azami until she returned to her room. After the truth was revealed, Azami apologizes to her mother for acting coldly towards her.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waBqPqu5CNw Azami]] noticed Akamatsu's strange behavior and his refusal to attend Yuzuriha and Tokusa's wedding, causing her to assume that Akamatsu was Yuzuriha's lover. [[spoiler: Akamatsu debunks her assumption as he tells her that he is extremely sentimental, which means [[TenderTears he can't hold his tears longer than most people do]]. He was also hit by rumors just because he cried while attending a wedding in the past.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYlBjXfbtQ When Tachibana breaks up with Karin]], he's seen hanging out with Tsutsuji about a week later. Karin and Akane suspect he might have been dating her even before they broke up. [[spoiler: Later, Tsutsuji explains that Tachibana is just a friend who was protecting her from a stalker named Hiiragi. He was able to get Hiiragi suspended, but still acted as a bodyguard for Tsutsuji. Tachibana only broke up with Karin because he received a threatening message from Hiiragi and didn't want her to be targeted.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ef_2wE0uDI Akane]] accuses Hiiragi of cheating on her with Azami by showing him the picture of them hugging each other. Hiiragi reveals that he is trying to get the present for her birthday with Azami's help and Azami also reveals the reason they hugged because she often trips, and Hiiragi caught her to prevent her from falling. However, it is later subverted when [[spoiler: Akane was right the entire time and Hiiragi was really cheating on her, thanks to Yuzuriha, who witnessed him and Azami flirting with each other.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3bBbizhN9g Kuroki]] thinks that his wife Azami is cheating on him with a handsome man in a love hotel. However, [[spoiler: the "handsome man" turns out to be a friend of Azami, [[CanonCharacterAllAlong Karin]], who likes to cosplay by [[WholesomeCrossdresser dressing up like a man]] and the reason both of them go into the love hotel because Azami would be able to take photos of Karin's costumes.]]

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': Gob thinks that his girlfriend Marta is cheating on him with somebody named Hermano. It turns out to be simply a misunderstanding based off Gob's complete lack of knowledge of Spanish, as "mi hermano" means "my brother" in the language.

* In ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Helen finds [[AffairHair one of Mirage's hairs on Bob's suit]], then overhears the second half of their phone conversation before he suddenly leaves on a "business trip." It's never explicitly mentioned, but her thoughts are pretty clear. The outtakes, meanwhile, include scenes where she outright asked him if he was seeing another woman. To make matters worse, when she does finally find Bob inside the villain's lair, it's ''right as he's hugging Mirage'' (just out of pure gratefulness for helping him, but Helen doesn't know this). [[spoiler:[[Funny/TheIncredibles Helen promptly punches Mirage out cold.]]]]

* The ''Series/WithoutATrace'' episode "Midnight Sun" had a supposedly loving family man disappear, only for witnesses to report seeing him on several occasions at a diner in the company of an attractive young woman. A trace on the woman's credit card reveals that she is in fact [[spoiler: a deputy U.S. Marshal, and the man's handler in Witness Protection.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R45-NTsv6Y Karin]] was exhausted because she was taking care of her elderly mother in law Tsutsuji and barely had time for herself. After Tsutsuji begins voluntarily going to a daycare center for elders during the day, Karin celebrates having more time for herself by getting a makeover. This leads three other housewives in the neighborhood, Akane, Yuzuriha and Azami to assume she's cheating on her husband (even though she had just explained to them why she was dressed like that). Rather than planning on telling on her or anything like that, however, they instead invite her to a "party" where they say there will be a lot of hot guys. In response, Karin just rats them out to their husbands.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWqMUJ1vHcA Azami]] suspects that her mother Akane is cheating on her father, Tachibana, with another man named Akamatsu, causing her to act coldly towards her mother. [[spoiler: Akamatsu is revealed to be Tachibana's younger half-brother from his mother's side, making him Azami's uncle, he currently lives overseas. The reason he kept visiting Akane because he was teaching her English when he returned to Japan when Azami was 5 and flied back when she was 12, about them hugging each other turned out to be a way of greeting people overseas, the fact he took many photos of Azami because he wanted to show them to her grandmother, who also lives overseas, and they were always together with Azami until she returned to her room. After the truth was revealed, Azami apologizes to her mother for acting coldly towards her.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ef_2wE0uDI Akane]] accuses Hiiragi of cheating on her with Azami by showing him the picture of them hugging each other. Hiiragi reveals that he is trying to get the present for her birthday with Azami's help and Azami also reveals the the reason they hugged because she often trips and Hiiragi caught her to prevent her from falling. However, it is later subverted when [[spoiler: Akane was right the entire time and Hiiragi was really cheating on her, thanks to Yuzuriha, who witnessed him and Azami flirting with each other.]]

'''Jake:''' Uh...khakis?\\

'''Jake:''' Uh, khakis? ''(aside, to coworker)'' Hey, do they ever ask you what you're wearing?\\

* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow''
** Rob thinks that his coworkers Buddy and Sally are having an affair, but it turns out they're just moonlighting as a comedy song-and-dance act.
** In another episode Jerry the best friend and next-door neighbor is suspected of cheating on his wife when he's seen lunching in a restaurant with another woman. She turns out to be a marriage counselor.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': Liz is drunk at a party at Long's house, and tries to hook up with Peter. He tries to get her away from him, but too late: Mary Jane shows up and saw it.