Karens have become a national sensation in America for their intolerant behaviors towards Black people, including police brutality against Black people and demanding that nonwhite employees speak to their managers. Karens display no fear when using their white privilege in offensive ways.
They believe they can circumvent the law or police their neighbors even when doing so is clearly wrong. This has resulted in some of the most outrageous high-profile Karen incidents of 2019.
Amy Cooper
Fans of the hit podcast The Walking Dead may have come across the story of ‘Walking Dead Karen’. She was a woman who harassed a Black man in 2020 and her actions quickly went viral.
She shouted and yelled at the man, then threw herself against the glass to try to smash in with her head while yelling and licking the door. In the video, she also accused the person filming her of being racist.
But, she’s not the only high-profile Karen to go viral in a year. Reports indicate another woman from the same city was sent to jail after video surfaced of her trying to rip off a security guard’s face while screaming obscenities.
On Monday, an unidentified woman was arrested for falsely reporting an incident to law enforcement in the third degree. If found guilty, this charge could land her in prison for up to one year, according to The New York Times.
It’s not hard to understand why she became such a hot topic on social media, given that Amnesty International conducted a study which revealed women are subjected to misogynistic slurs every 30 seconds on Twitter. Furthermore, in 2018, the Pew Research Center discovered Black men receive more sexist and abusive messages than any other group.
Many sexist attacks against white people are perpetrated by those of color, despite the perception that white privilege has an influential effect on how we behave and relate to others. That’s why it is essential to recognize that sexist remarks directed at people of color – such as ‘Karen’ – may not necessarily be indicative of misogynistic remarks directed at white women.
After video of Amy Cooper calling the police on a Black bird watcher in Central Park went viral, social media users were quick to condemn other white women for using their privilege to intimidate Black people and refer to them as ‘Karen,’ an expression originally coined by Black Twitter to highlight racist behavior.
But what if there was another version of “Karen?” What if it was something more inclusive? That is the question we need to ask ourselves.
What if there was another version of “Karen?” How might that impact how we speak to one another? Could we ever live in a world where that word wasn’t seen as an offensive slur, but rather something we can use respectfully and with understanding?
The answer to this question is that “Karen” isn’t just a sexist term; it’s an integral part of our language. Thus, it has the capacity to cause great harm to those who aren’t white.
Miya Ponsetto
In December 2020, Miya Ponsetto made headlines when she harassed Keyon Harrold in a hotel lobby. Reports state that during the encounter, she reportedly grabbed him by the arm and claimed her phone as hers.
Her actions caused a sensation on social media and she was castigated by both family members and law enforcement officials alike. In fact, Ventura County Sheriffs even pulled her over in Fillmore, California, U.S. for her actions.
The incident was captured and quickly went viral on social media platforms. The video depicted an unsettling sight that left many in shock.
On January 7, 2021, she was arrested for four felonies: attempted robbery, endangering a child’s welfare, attempted grand larceny and assault.
Her arrest was the result of her behavior in the hotel lobby, where she falsely accused Harrold of taking her phone. Additionally, she was caught on camera grabbing him by the waist.
The video was quickly shared on social media, sparking a debate over whether she was racially profiling the boy. Her defense team denied being racist and claimed she had done nothing wrong in the incident, according to The Washington Post.
No matter her explanations, the video remains deeply troubling. It shows a woman allegedly racial profiling the youngster and a white man running up to him in the lobby.
After watching the video, Keyon Harrold Sr. and civil rights attorney Ben Crump were appalled and have promised legal action against Ponsetto. They are calling for charges to be filed against her, with the New York Police Department reviewing her case as they review this information.
She was born on May 27, 1998 in Simi Valley, California to Nicole Claudine Ponsetto and an unknown father.
At the start of 2021, she had a private Instagram account with over 1,000 followers. On other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, however, there were few followers to be found.
Her net worth is estimated to be $1 million as of 2022. She graduated from Simi Valley High School in California, where she was a cheerleader.
The 23-year-old also had a history of public intoxication and driving while her license was suspended or revoked. She was arrested twice in 2020 – once on February 28 alongside her mother, then again on September 1 by the California Highway Patrol for DUI (driving while license was suspended).
She is currently serving three years of probation for her DUI offense. Additionally, in 2019, a property company sued her in Los Angeles Superior Court over unpaid rent at their Sun Valley apartment with another man she lived with.
As the case progressed, her parents were thrust into the media spotlight as they desperately tried to keep their daughter out of trouble. The mother was arrested by police and the son deleted his Instagram account in an effort to escape all the attention.
Key Fob Kelly
If you live in a high-rise apartment complex, chances are that you have heard of Key Fob Kelly. According to BuzzFeed News, she is accused of sexually harassing D’Arreion Toles in a video that went viral.
Toles posted three videos to Facebook in which a woman blocked his entryway into his downtown residential building and then followed him four floors upstairs to his unit.
At some point during their encounter, Toles told police he asked the woman to stop blocking him and provide proof that she lived in the apartment. But she refused, leading police to arrive on the scene.
When Toles confronted the woman, she pointed to her door and told him “You cannot come into my place or enter my building,” according to the report. She also threatened him with a gun and shouted at him in Spanish as he was being transported to the hospital.
The video depicts Toles walking outside and being confronted by a woman who claims she has the key to his building. When Toles denies being there, she demands him to show her the lock and keys. When Toles refuses, she threatens to call the police.
She then goes on to claim that she cannot live in the building because her husband is black and she lives next door. When Toles attempts to explain that he’s not a resident and asks her not to use his door lock, she screams at him according to BuzzFeed News.
She screamed as she shoved Toles against a wall and grabbed him by his hair. Afterward, she hit him hard against it with her elbow. Police reported that she was arrested for harassment following this incident.
BuzzFeed News reports that several people had reported encounters with the woman after seeing Toles’ footage. One neighbor reported entering his backyard to meet him and trying to light a firepit without finding a key; another person called police saying they had tried to enter his house and asked for one.
But the owner of the home, a white man, denied Kelly’s story and accused her of breaking into his car. He told police he didn’t know who Kelly was or where she came from, according to BuzzFeed News.
Miya Ponsetto, also known as “SoHo Karen,” gained notoriety for her attack on teenage son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold and was quickly labeled “SoHo Karen”. On Monday she pleaded guilty to hate crime charges in New York City but her attorney has yet to make public statements about the incident which sparked national discussion about race relations and discrimination.
