Everyone is up in arms about Sean Penn “going ballistic” on some poor schmo in the lobby bar of the St. Regis Hotel in The City — but video footage online shows it wasn’t that big of a deal.

TMZ posted the shaky camera work, in which Penn yells, “I’ll make you eat your cellphone!” to a guy filming him as he walks by. He also allegedly said, “Do we look like f***ing zoo animals?!” TMZ says Penn took the phone and slammed it into the ground. (OK, not cool.) Apparently, hotel staff asked the man if he wanted to call the cops, and he said no.

Penn does indeed appear a bit erratic, but then again, folks like him in luxury hotels in San Francisco don’t really expect to deal with people all up in their grill.

Scoop! is on Team Penn on this one.