Number 7 Trader Joe’s Karen A woman, who chose not be named,
was recorded screaming at Trader Joe’s employees, in North Hollywood, California, upon being
asked to wear a mask, in June of 2020. Cellphone footage from other customers would show the woman,
identified as a Los Angeles resident, throwing her shopping basket and lashing out at the workers,
at one point calling them “Democratic pigs”. She hurled insults at other shoppers who’d confronted
her and also claimed that her doctor didn’t allow her to wear a mask. She added that by harassing
her into doing so the others were in violation of federal law. She then angrily brushed off
employees and left the store. When interviewed by a media outlet she didn’t elaborate on her medical
condition but claimed that her tirade was sparked by a customer who’d begun to insult her for not
complying with the statewide mandate. Number 6 Abigail Elphick
In July of 2021, Ijeoma Ukenta was visiting a Victoria’s Secret store at a mall in Millburn,
New Jersey. Ukenta, a woman of Nigerian descent, was trying to redeem a coupon for free panties
when she got involved in an altercation with a white woman named Abigail Elphick.
While they were near the cash register, the latter allegedly nudged Ukenta, who started recording her
as the encounter escalated. Elphick attempted to slap the phone out of Ukenta’s hand
and then suffered a breakdown in front of her, upon realizing she was being filmed.
She started crying and assumed a squatting position, begging not to be recorded.
Ukenta told workers at the store to get security because the other woman had tried to charge her,
while Elphick started screaming that she was being threatened before eventually lying motionless,
face-down on the floor, using her purse as a pillow. The first video ended with a store
worker helping Ukenta with her purchase, as she told the white woman “Bye, Karen!” A second clip
would show Elphick convulsing on the floor while pointing at Ukenta, screaming that she
was recording her. The former then chased her around the store to get her to stop filming,
which Ukenta didn’t desist from doing, arguing that the footage was for her protection in front
of the authorities. Elphick ultimately called the police. She’d later admit to officers of
having suffered a breakdown because she was afraid that if the video went viral, which it since has,
she’d lose her job and apartment. Elphick, dubbed the Victoria’s Secret Karen by the media,
wasn’t charged while Ukenta started a GoFundMe to seek legal help in the matter. The page has
since generated over $100,000. Number 5 Coughing Karen
In June of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook user Allison Goodbaum uploaded a video of
an unnamed, mask-less woman coughing on her at a New York City bagel shop. The confrontation began
when Goodbaum pointed out to an employee that the woman was coughing without covering her mouth and
not wearing a face mask, as mandated by law. The woman in question overheard the complaint
and began berating Goodbaum, claiming that she had COVID antibodies and that other customers
should mind their business. She then proceeded to cough on Goodbaum and call her names. The Facebook
user’s anger was also directed at the bagel shop itself as workers didn’t check on her wellbeing
and continued to serve the coughing patron. The video went viral on various social media platforms
and generated outrage online with the woman in question subsequently dubbed “Coughing Karen”.
She was identified as a former employee of Weill Cornell Medicine but her identity wasn’t
definitively confirmed at the time, as she’d taken steps towards removing her online presence.
In her post, Goodbaum argued that, within the context of the pandemic, the other woman’s
behavior could be considered assault. Number 4 Juliana Carlos
In February of 2021, a couple sitting courtside at an LA Lakers-Atlanta Hawks game became embroiled
in a verbal altercation with NBA superstar LeBron James. The couple, Juliana and Chris Carlos, and
the basketball player reportedly traded insults. The dispute, according to 25-year-old Juliana,
had started after James had cursed at her husband, a decade-long Hawks supporter, but other witnesses
reported that the couple had been constantly heckling him. A video, captured during the fourth
quarter, would show how Juliana then started screaming at James. As a result, both Juliana
and Chris were escorted out of the stadium. In the aftermath, Juliana uploaded a profanity-laced
video on Instagram, which was directed at James while the basketball player himself referred to
her as “Courtside Karen” in a tweet, a nickname that stuck. The feud earned Juliana considerable
media attention and, in its wake, she got a major boost to her Instagram follower count. However,
she and Chris also became targets for online ridicule, with social media users commenting
on everything from their appearance to the age difference between them. Juliana would
subsequently apologize for her Instagram rant. What Is It?
“Karen” is a slang term typically used in reference to a middle-class white woman
that is perceived as meddlesome and entitled beyond the scope of societal norms. As defined by
Kansas State University professor Heather Suzanne Woods, whose work also includes researching memes,
a Karen “demands the world exist according to her standards with little regard for others, and she
is willing to risk or demean others to achieve her ends." As such, she may display racist,
aggressive and self-victimizing behavior. One of the earliest mainstream examples of a clueless and
an airhead Karen typology was the character portrayed by Amanda Seyfried in the 2004 film
Mean Girls. Karen memes, often including the stereotypes that they demand speaking to a
manager and a bob haircut with blonde highlights, became viral on Reddit, in 2017. They have been
popularized through various social media spaces, most notably Black Twitter, to such a degree that
the Guardian referred to 2020 as the “year of the Karen”. In African-American culture there
is a history of referring to a meddlesome white woman by a certain name. The current typology
has other known versions, including “Miss Ann” in the 19th century and “Becky” in the early 1990s.
Contributing to the spreading of the term in its present iteration have been a number of incidents,
most captured on video, of women exhibiting Karen-like behavior. The term has, however,
been criticized as ageist, sexist, misogynistic and as a linguistic tool used to control
women’s behavior. Number 3 Amy Cooper
Among the most infamous incidents to have been included in the Karen paradigm was a confrontation
between Amy Cooper, a white woman walking her dog, and Christian Cooper, no relation, an African
American bird watcher. It occurred in the Ramble, a western section of New York City’s Central Park,
on the morning of May the 25th of 2020. Amy was in an area of the park that required owners to
keep their dogs on a leash. Christian asked her to comply with the rules, which she refused,
to which the man, by his own admission, replied "Look, if you're going to do what you want, I'm
going to do what I want, but you're not going to like it". He then proceeded to beckon her cocker
spaniel with a dog treat. Christian began filming with his cellphone after Amy had screamed at him
not to touch her dog. She approached him, pointed her finger in his face and demanded
he stop recording while also telling him not to get close to her. She then proceeded to call 911,
telling the operator to “send the cops immediately” because an African-American man
was threatening her and her dog. The video ended with Amy leashing her dog and Christian thanking
her for choosing to do so. Both of them had left by the time that police arrived at the scene.
Christian’s video went viral in the aftermath, amassing over 40 million views on Twitter alone.
Amy’s actions of falsely presenting herself to be in imminent danger were widely criticized.
Her employers at Franklin Templeton, where she worked as head of insurance investment,
fired her upon seeing the footage. The incident prompted a national conversation on how black
and white Americans are seen and treated differently by the police as well as on how
many similar incidents that go undocumented result in the former being falsely accused.
Amy was charged with filing a false police report, punishable with up to a year in jail, but the
charges were dropped, in February of 2021, after she’d completed a five-session educational and
therapeutic program on racial identity. According to her own updates on the matter she’d received
death threats and was doxxed to the point that she had to leave the country. In the incident’s wake,
legislation, first proposed in 2018, took effect in New York making it a hate crime for people to
falsely report criminal incidents based on someone’s race, gender or religion.
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Number 2 Miya Ponsetto
In early 2021, Miya Ponsetto, whom the media nicknamed “SoHo Karen” was charged with attempted
robbery, endangering the welfare of a child, attempted grand larceny and attempted assault.
The charges stemmed from an incident in the lobby of the Arlo SoHo Hotel,
in New York City, which had taken place in December of 2020. 22-year-old Ponsetto entered
the hotel and falsely accused Keyon Harrold Jr., aged 14, of stealing her IPhone. Even though
both he and his father, renowned jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold Sr., had denied the allegations,
Ponsetto attempted to tackle the child. The incident was captured on cellphone footage,
with the hotel’s manager seemingly supporting the woman, without apparent grounds. It turned
out that Ponsetto had mistakenly left her phone in an Uber and the driver later returned it to her.
Harrold Sr. would subsequently state that neither he nor his son was given a chance to be heard
in the matter and that they’d been “guilty then proven innocent". On January the 7th the police
arrested Ponsetto at her home, in Ventura County, California, and, during an initial court hearing,
she interrupted a judge by asking to avoid jail time. Harrold filed a lawsuit against
the young woman for a “violent incident of racial profiling” and, in July of 2021,
a grand jury also charged Ponsetto with having committed a hate crime. She pleaded not guilty,
and the trial is ongoing. Number 1 Karen Ridge
In December of 2019, in the town of Mildura, Australia, a woman by the name of Karen Ridge
was charged with willfully damaging an Aboriginal flag belonging to her neighbor. An argument
erupted as 48-year-old Ridge and another neighbor, Robert Vigors, started questioning the Aboriginal
heritage of Indigenous artist Robby Wirramanda Knight, who’d raised the flag. Ridge was
filmed by Knight trying to tear down the flag and failing, to which he replied “it’s too strong for
you Karen”. The ensuing viral video would feature the hashtag #toostrongforyoukaren. In the footage,
Vigors, aged 65, told Knight that he was making a mockery because he wasn’t a “true Aboriginal”
and that him claiming to be one “made him laugh”. In the aftermath, Vigors, the franchisee of two
McDonald's outlets, lost control of the businesses as the parent company deemed he should no longer
be involved. The charges against him and Ridge were ultimately dropped. The weekend after the
viral video incident, hundreds gathered at an anti-racism rally, in Mildura.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather cultivate and grow your own food OR have to deal with a
Karen every time you went to the grocery store? Let us know in the comments section below!