Updated as of 11/8/2023 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Things you can’t do without a Karen being in your face: enjoy a pool, board a plane, buy a Starbucks drink or even fish at the local lake. They are the worst variant of white person and their privilege brings out the most extreme level of ignorance…so much so that they deserve their own labeled category of behavior for how consistently they cause a ruckus.
Karens could sweep the Oscars and Emmys for the extent to which they go to get an innocent Black person in trouble. Some of them even end up in an orange jumpsuit for the damage their shenanigans do to people’s properties and lives.
Fortunately, with video evidence, we can capture all of their foolishness and, sometimes, their violence. Check out the list of people who got themselves on the Krazy Karen Roster.
A 74-year-old woman was charged with battery and trespassing after being too nosey and racist for her own good. She was caught on video confronting a Latino construction worker who, for some reason, she didn’t believe was there to do work.
She then asserted that she was an American and called the man a “Tijuanan” while appearing to strike him outside of the video frame. She gave a lousy apology, saying she lost control after seeing the camera in her face, per the LA Times.
A group of families gathered around a crew of Black street performers when a Karen wearing one long black sock, one short polka-dot sock and an ugly rainbow sweater interrupted the show. She jumped in the middle and threw both of her middle fingers up in front of the kids.
Even when the entertainers asked her politely to leave, she stood with her hands folded, shaking her head. The crowd boo’ed her and the entertainers appeared to bargain with her, but to no avail. Finally, one of the performers pulled the ultimate Karen move and asked someone to call the cops on her…and it worked!
Janee Jewell Plummer was charged with two counts of bias crime, two counts of harassment, robbery and third-degree theft after trying to exit a store without paying, per KATU. Oh, and she sucker-punched the Black security guard who was trying to stop her.
She also spat in hisface, called him racial slurs and defended her actions saying, “I don’t have to like Black people, and I don’t,” all while being handcuffed. Turns out she has a criminal record of 17 convictions going back to 1999. This Karen is literally a menace to society.
Anthony Gibson found a nice spot to set up his fishing line at the lake in his neighborhood when a local Karen made it her business to be in his business. She approached him and asked if they lived in the area because the lake is for “residents only.” What a classic assumption that they’re trespassing. She eventually walked off after throwing a hissy fit over being recorded. This Karen was actually the third person to approach Gibson as he recorded another video with a cop who was called on him.
This Karen was caught on video berating a Black postal worker who was doing nothing but minding her business. While dropping off mail, she stopped to record. “Equal my ass! You’re not equal!” the Karen shouted among other Trump and Obama references that didn’t really make any sense. The scoop is that she was known for hostile behavior by a former landlord who said she called the police over every little thing.
Miya Ponsetto was caught on video assaulting a Black teen whom she falsely accused of stealing her cellphone. She shouted at the boy in the lobby of a New York hotel, and as he tried to dodge her, she tackled him — all for her Uber driver to spin the block and tell her she left her phone in the car, per PAPER Magazine.
That’s not even the best part: After the internet dragged her, she went on CBS This Morning and acted oblivious to the accusations of racial profiling the teenager. She even got smart with Gayle King during the interview.
Yet, after all that attitude, Ponsetto ended up pleading guilty to a hate crime and was sentenced to two years probation at home.
At Clyde Cooper’s BBQ restaurant in Raleigh, NC, a Karen called 911 because she believed her pork was undercooked because it was pink. The restaurant owner explained the meat looked the way it did because it was smoked and even offered her an alternative, but that wasn’t enough. The Karen called the police complaining that she didn’t want to trade her food and she wanted her money back.
The responding officer didn’t do much besides smile and roll his eyes when he arrived.
Two white men targeted a 16-year-old Black boy driving around the same neighborhood where Travyon Martin was killed, per NewsOne. The teen took a video of the incident, capturing the two curse at him for allegedly speeding down the street.
The teen stopped to record after one of them threw a large rock into his window and tried to slam a traffic cone against his door. Fellow white neighbors gathered around the teen as he recorded, yelling in the background that he didn’t belong in the neighborhood.
The two men ended up charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal mischief
Alonzo Harmon, an HVAC technician, was called to clean a woman’s air-ducts when he had the cops called on him. He told The Daily Beast he was harassed while trying to do his job and badgered with questions regarding his qualifications.
Once he got fed up, he packed up his stuff to leave, but a Karen dialed 911 and put on a performance, saying her life is in danger. On the other side of the garage, Harmon looked at her with a stale face while recording her meltdown. The responding officers didn’t take any action. They were probably just as annoyed as Mr. Harmon.
A white woman was caught on in a TikTok video making a ruckus of racist comments toward a Latino family because they held a gathering at the pool. After realizing her rant was being recorded, she slapped the phone out of the person’s hand. Seconds later, the video shows the Karen being restrained, which seemed to only enrage her more.
She then called the family “low-class slime” along with various xenophobic insults directed toward even the children. Last I checked, she never said she owned that pool.
Tiffany Gomas went global within a matter of six weeks after the fit she threw while voluntarily de-boarding a plane. Why was she leaving? Because she had beef with family members who were sitting with her. It’s unclear if she was intoxicated, but the public speculated that she was drunk while shouting, “I don’t give two fucks but I’m telling you right now, that motherfucker back there is not real!”
No one knows what she was talking about but the internet assumed she saw a shapeshifting demon or one of the aliens the government is talking about.
Susan Lorincz was accused by the residents of Ocala, Fla. of terrorizing their neighborhood and children. For some reason, this lady just had it out for the youngins. Lorincz was accused of consistently harassing children, yelling at them while they played in the street, flicking them off and insulting them.
The grand finale of her Karen tirade resulted in the death of Ajike Owens. Owens walked over to her apartment to address allegations that Lorincz threw objects at her children and spewed racial slurs. In response, Lorincz shot at Owens from behind the front door, fatally injuring her. She’s now facing criminal charges.
Kim Jennings, the manager of a North Carolina apartment complex, was seen on surveillance camera pouring a bottle of Coke on a little Black boy and smacking him in the head with it multiple times. The boy, Jace, said he had been to the pool before with no problems until the day he got bopped in the head. Jennings told reporters she stepped out of character because Jace was being “too chatty” but admitted she should’ve handled it differently.
Well, now she’s facing two counts of assault on a child.
Devon Leslie Jr. was just trying to enjoy his time at a casino until he was hit in the face, kicked and harassed by a racist Karen and her boyfriend: double trouble. The video caught the two spitting racial slurs at him and after the assault, Leslie says he’s pressing charges and asks for security.
“Stop being a little bitch you fucking n——r,” spat the boyfriend.
In a Facebook post, he said the couple were arrested for assault and public intoxication. Let’s see how tough they are behind bars.
Abigail Jo Shry is the ultimate Trump stan. She called up the federal courthouse and left a racist threat to Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing the former president’s criminal case. Trump publicly attacked the judge on social media, so naturally, his groupie followed his footsteps.
“You are in our sights, we want to kill you. If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you,” Shry said on the recording.
Shry also threatened to kill a Black U.S. representative. Investigators swiftly tracked the voicemail back to her phone and locked her right up.
This Karen disturbed the shoppers at Target and Starbucks while getting a few things off her chest that no one ever cared to know.
The woman, identified as Ersilia Campbell, stomped into a Target in blackface arguing that “Lester Holt did whiteface” on his Halloween costume ten years ago so sure…it must be fine. Covered in MAGA stickers, she demanded customers show her where the Pride section was, threw up her middle finger and mumbled angrily to herself looking like a whole fool.
Sarah Jane Comrie, a nurse at Bellevue Hospital, was seen on video causing a whole scene because of a misunderstanding over a Citi Bike. She burst into fake tears screaming for help claiming that a Black teen was hurting her and had a friend call 911 because the boy was trying to check out a bike she claimed was hers. Only when her friend suggested she just go get another bike did she come to her senses and her Disney Channel audition was over.
Her job was even embarrassed of her.
Senator Cruz threw a Karen-grade tantrum at a Montana airport after missing his flight. According to a video of the incident, he stood at the counter visibly displeased despite the mask covering his face, demanding to speak to the manager, per Daily Mail.
How on brand.
At some point, he becomes frustrated enough that an officer is called to deal with him instead. Cruz asks “Don’t you know who I am?” as if his reputation would help his cause at all.
This incident would have done better for his emergency trip to Cancun during Winter Storm Uri.
I understand everyone needs their morning coffee but it is never this deep. A Karen was caught on video screaming bloody Mary over… we still don’t know what her problem is. Customers often throw fits if their drink is made incorrectly or too slow but in this instance, we’re thrown right in the middle of chaos.
The woman is seen yelling at the baristas over the counter, slamming her hands on the espresso machine and storming out the door while he two employees chuckled the entire time. You can’t help but get a laugh out of these drama queens.
A Karen over in San Francisco gave hell to her neighbor, James Juanillo, for chalking “Black Lives Matter” on his property, per ABC 7. Everyone was participating in BLM public art but for some reason, this woman made a fit about it. With a supervillian grin, she stood in front of Juanillo insisting he was a stranger tagging private property and threatened to call the police while her husband (sidekick) stood behind her.
After the video of her creepy face went viral, she lost her contract with a client forcing her to issue a formal apology.
Across from the yard where a family was hosting a graduation party, a Karen screeching like a seagull complained about the noise while Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA blasted in the background.
In the video she’s heard yelling at the party attendees that she repeatedly asked them to “stop” which the TikTok user specified was lighting fireworks in the street. Then, she stomps away angrily as a toddler would and threatens to call 911.
Well, at least we know who’s banned from the cookout.
In the heat of COVID-19, when QAnon and antivaxers believed they were magically immune from the virus, a Karen was appalled that she was required to wear a mask inside, per the New York Post.
The employees at the Bones-N-Scones located in Palm Springs caught the Karen on video as she stood at the door threatening to call the police over the then nationwide requirement.
“I’m being told I need to wear a mask even though I have a religious exemption right and a God-given right to be able to breathe O2 and not CO … medical exemption too,” she says in the video. “I’m trying to make sure that I have rights. You’ll make sure to hear that in the end you’re the one who will be cited, not me.”
The dispatcher tells the woman the store has a right to refuse service and she finally decides to leave. However, she sent the police there the next day.
Three Black women going on a run were harassed and badgered unprovoked by a Karen at Manhattan Beach, per ABC 7. In between being called racial slurs, the woman is seen in the video spouting disgusting stereotypes about Black people.
“You guys are so violent. You Africans are so (expletive) violent. You’re an African, right? I’m trying to get a description,” said the Karen in the video. “My environment has been harmed by this African Black person.”
The Karen threatened to call the police and was referred to the LAPD. It’s unclear if further action was taken but if they showed up, they’d be shown the footage of this lady spitting racial slurs.
This Karen got the right one in the back of her car.
Caught redhanded on video, this woman tried to steal her Uber rider’s phone charger and stuff it under her seat. He refused to get out of the car until his belongings were returned. Then, the Karen thought she had a hand up and called the police.
“Now I could have just let this go. It’s just a $20.00 charger but I saw she had a dash cam recording and it was the audacity and arrogance in this woman’s voice thinking the cops were her weapon and would just automatically take her side,” the rider said in the voiceover of the video.
The responding officers weren’t here for the bullsh*t. One of them even threatened to arrest the woman unless she returned the rider’s charger. That brought this bunch of nonsense to a close.
Two Black men who own a snow shoveling business in Illinois went to clean their friend’s driveway after a snow storm. To be nice, they cleaned off the sidewalk of the next door neighbor. However, they were met by a disgruntled white lady who would rather undo their work than accept their free services.
She called the police saying there were two African American harassing her and being rude, per The Daily Beast. The cops didn’t do much besides advise the men to save themselves a headache and leave her property alone.
Authors Regina Jackson and Saira Rao shared their new novel helping white women explore their own racism and sent Twitter into a tizzy. The cover of the book, “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How To Do Better,” was described as a guidebook for white women who want to dismantle white supremacy.
Instead, all of the Karens took it as another ploy to draw white guilt and showed the very reason this book is necessary through their reactions.
Patriots fan Jerry Edmond was just trying to enjoy a game one Saturday evening when a Karen on the Raiders side took her team’s winning score as an excuse to harass him. Edmond told reporters the woman got in his face, yelling and pointing fingers at him while he stood there looking blankly at her.
The video of the incident went viral so quickly, the CEO of the New England Patriots invited Edmond to the Week 16 game, got him a custom jersey and let him watch from his own seat.
Jevon Sisnett posted a video to YouTube documenting an angry Karen shouting at his daughter for watering a neighbor’s plants. For three weeks, his 11-year-old daughter and her friends were asked to come by and tend to the plants, Sisnett says behind the camera. Until, one day a Karen interrupted them and accused them of trespassing…. while also trespassing.
“Something just don’t f***king smell right,” she growls.
In the video, the girls are seen crying and obviously traumatized after being berated by a stranger who demanded their names, addresses and birthdays. Another person in the background makes a phone call for help.
The Karen finally leaves after accepting her neighborhood-patrol scheme wasn’t working in her favor.
Apparently, this Karen has been waiting to pull the white woman privilege trigger for two years.
One afternoon, a Black couple had been minding their business hanging out in their backyard when their neighbor accused them of not having a permit to build a stone patio on their own property. An argument ensued after she continued to demand answers to questions about their home until finally, she called the cops hysterical, per New Jersey 101.5.
She told them she was being attacked and pushed by the man of the couple as other neighbors watched her making up the blatant lies. The police took no further action when they arrived, though, they should’ve taken note that the couple has been harassed by this woman for two years.
This NJ neighborhood Karen, identified as a former councilman, called 911 on a 9-year-old Black girl who was trying to save her environment. Local papers applauded her efforts, detailing how she used a home-made solution to spray on trees and lawns to help get rid of the invasive lantern flies.
However, her neighbor wasn’t so supportive and gave the police a threatening description as if she was doing something illegal. When the police responded, she was visibly frightened and has since been afraid of going outside following the incident. The Karen could be facing a lawsuit.
NBA athlete Norman Powell was minding his Black business at the gym when an unruly Karen came in verbally harassing him. In the videos he shared to social media, she spat insults at him calling him “un-American” and boasted that her descendants were “from the Mayflower.”
She began getting even more flustered, yelling at Powell and his gym mates to “go back” to where they came from and started yelling obscenities at them. Finally, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were called and hemmed her ass up. Following her arrest she was sent to a local hospital and put on psychiatric hold – like most Karens need.
As a Black Walmart customer was trying to leave the store with his supplies for Thanksgiving, an employee asked to see his receipt per protocol. However, before the customer could reach in his pocket, he told ABC 7 News the white man blocked him from the exit and started taking things out of his cart.
“You people always trying to steal,” the employee said. According to the company, this Karen no longer has a job.
NFL star Terrell Owens shared a 10-minute long interaction of a classic Karen conflict. His neighbor got riled up after seeing him drive to his mailbox, claiming he was speeding. Owens told NewsNation he got out the car to try and de-escalate the situation but before he could try, the Karen called 911 and said she was being harassed – a century’s-old trick used to degrade and dehumanize Black men.
Turns out this Karen was charged with a misdemeanor count for filing a false police report. All that fuss just to be loud and wrong.
Recent reports say the Real Housewives of New York City star has been tearing up TikTok in classic Karen fashion due to claims of counterfeit advertisement. According to Insider, Frankel claims the clock app has been using her images and videos in ads to sell fake products.
However, her behavior goes beyond a petty lawsuit. TikTok users have accused her of being racist after going after Meghan Markle and of being a hypocrite for demanding protections for creators while belittling smaller ones. Frankel also sent a cease-and-desist to one creator who called her out on her bullsh*t. It seems like Frankel’s fury is only just beginning.
Words can’t describe the fury and frustration I felt for several female employees at the Robeks smoothie shop. The video shows the women getting in an argument with an irate customer who appears to be upset about a mix-up with his order.
That mix-up, he claimed, was a drink with peanut butter of which his son is allergic and he claimed his child ended up going to the hospital prior to the argument, according to News 12 Connecticut.
In the video, he stormed in the place yelling and chucked the drink right at the employee who made the drink, calling her an “immigrant loser.” He also tried to storm behind the counter where the employees were standing guard.
James Iannazz0 was arrested for:
- intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the second degree
- breach of peace in the second degree
- and criminal trespassing in the first degree
Oh! And he lost his job.
You would have thought the world was ending the way this white lady was acting about some damn water!
Alison Ettel, dubbed “Permit Patty” by the internet, called the police on an 8-year-old girl who was selling water on the sidewalk in San Francisco. Ettel was annoyed hearing the girl shout to people walking by to come get a bottle. After the girl and her mother refused to leave, Ettel called the cops to ask if it was legal for them to sell water without a permit.
In the end, she ended up resigning as CEO of TreatWell Health after Twitter obliterated her image with memes, per CNN.
A pregnant Black woman named Jillian walked into what she thought was going to be an easy, quick doctor’s appointment. But one white nurse turned Jillian’s visit into a living hell.
Jillian explained in multiple TikTok videos that she had gone to ask her doctor for a note securing her maternity leave because she’d been feeling pain. The nurse took it upon herself to decide whether or not she was eligible for work after her cervical exam, despite Jillian’s requests to speak with the doctor.
Then, the nurse got outright disrespectful. She asked Jillian “what was she thinking” when she opened her legs and got pregnant and accused her of making up a lie to get out of work. The nurse even called the cops on Jillian after she called the nurse a “weirdo.”
Hide your kids! This video almost gave me a nightmare.
This lady was caught on camera by Chelsea Klein who was riding in the back of a Lyft. Her driver allegedly cut off the Karen, who gave Klein the finger from her vehicle. According to CNN, Klein began recording the interaction because she was scared Karen was going to jump in the car judging by the amount of road rage she presented.
The lady accused Klein’s Lyft driver of trying to crash into her and her kids in the backseat – who happened to be listening to the Kidz Bop version of “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. We don’t know where this crazy lady is right now, but Twitter meme’d the hell out of her.
This Karen followed a Black man from a Walmart parking lot in California to the store after falsely accusing him of stealing her child’s phone. Ya’shear Bryant posted the video to Facebook, explaining the woman had suspected him while inside and tracked the child’s phone to the parking lot near his car.
She insisted she was going to wait until the police arrived and the two went back to the front of the store, per COMPLEX. Moments later, the kid walks up with his phone which Bryant said he left in the car. Bryant asked the lady for her name as he planned to sue and she goes, “You go fuck yourself.” Aw, looks like someone’s a little mad they got caught looking stupid.
As some of us do, a Black man was snacking on some gummy worms ahead of paying for them while at the self-checkout register. Then, a Karen took it upon herself to play snack-police and confronted him for what she believed was shoplifting, as The Root previously reported.
“Who made you security? Out here, confronting us?” the man asked her. She then flashed some random identification card at him alleging she was made security of the store. Sarcastically, he offered her a gummy worm while showing his receipt.
This video is a personal favorite.
During the heat of the Trump era, Wypipo were getting a little bold toward Mexican and Black people. However, the victim of this Karen case wasn’t even Mexican. She was Indigenous. Anyways, a bystander recorded the incident. According to The New York Post, the woman was frustrated because her gas pump wasn’t working. She then projected her anger onto the lady being helped at the counter.
The two argue, leading the Karen to get in the young woman’s face. “You better go back to Mexico!” the Karen says. Then, BOW! She got punched in the face. That’s what her cranky ass gets.
Why oh why would you ever mess around with a Black woman and think you won’t find out?!
BET News reported the Sacramento Karen got dusted after calling a Black lady the n-word at a 7/11 after being warned to lay off the racial slurs. Daringly, she continued spouting the insults, leading to the Black lady to throw a few punches.
Maybe the situation knocked some sense into her. (insert laughing emoji)
“When the law comes, who are they going to believe, her white ass or my Black ass.”
According to Insider, Ijeoma Ukenta was chased around a Victoria’s Secret while, you guessed it, minding her business. Ukenta said while she was looking for her undies, she asked the Karen to back up. The Karen then did everything she could to prove to the employees that she was in distress because of Ukenta.
The Karen rolled on the floor, fainted, screamed, cried and pleaded for Ukenta to stop recording her. She also told the employees Ukenta threatened her while simultaneously running full speed at her.
Ukenta ended up raising more than $85K in GoFundMe donations to hire an attorney to take the Karen to court.
Would you look here? A Karen couple!
The two white folks helped themselves inside an Airbnb where a Black man was staying, interrogating him on why he was there.
According to REVOLT TV, the incident happened in Louisville, Kentucky. The couple opened the door and the man, who was laying on the couch, asked “Do you live here?” The man responded with confusion, asking 1) why did they walk into the house without permission? and 2) did they walk in just because they saw Black people inside? The answer to the second question is yes.
Twitter responded in outrage to the incident, ripping the couple for being racist.
Esmeralda Upton picked a fight with two Indian ladies in a parking lot, according to KFMX. It’s unclear what occurred moments before the recording but the video picks up with Upton letting all her bigotry fly free.
One of the women asked her why she even approached them to which she responded, “Because I hate you f**king Indians, that’s why!” Damn, Upton tell them how you really feel.
Upton then put on her “I did something stupid” face when she realized she’d overdone it with her racist banter. However, the cops were already on their way, the report says. She ended up getting arrested.
The worst part? She wasn’t even a white lady. Upton is Mexican.
What a time to be on the internet when this video went viral. “It’s above me now,” is still my favorite phrase.
A hotel employee named Craigory denied a woman a stay at the hotel after she had called him a f*cking n****er over the phone in an angry fit, per 11Alive News. In the most composed, poised manner, Craigory informed her that due to her vile language he was forced to file the incident with his higher ups. “It’s above me now,” he said acknowledging that her complaints were up to his superiors.
The woman never denied calling him the names but she did apologize. He told her try the Best Western next door.
Read More https://www.theroot.com/15-of-the-kraziest-karens-weve-seen-so-far-1849658177