On Sunday night, Mexico defeated the United States Men’s National Team in an intense 2-1 victory to win the nation’s 10th Concacaf Gold Cup trophy. While Mexico went into the final as the favorites — for the unaware, they are the reigning champions — both teams fought hard in front of a sold-out crowd of 70,925 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. During the match, however, some US and Mexico fans became embroiled in a heated altercation over a Mexico flag, and it culminated in a male Karen attempting to snatch the flag from the fan. Captured by a witness in the crowd, the clip has since gone viral and is making the rounds online.
The footage takes place in the NRG Stadium and sees a Mexican fan sporting Mexico’s signature green football kit speaking to a US fan (read: Male Karen), who is wearing a jacket with the iconic Star and Stripes emblazoned all over it. There are lots of other soccer fans surrounding the pair, and as there’s quite a lot of noise, it’s tricky to make out what is being said specifically.
The male Karen is sat behind the Mexico fan, and is leaning over, though his first words are difficult to discern. You can hear him say, “Be respectful,” and “You can cheer, but do not bring that flag out,” to the Mexico fan. However, the man in green is not very pleased about what the male Karen has said, as he can be heard saying something like, “Talk about being respectful.” before holding up his flag proudly and declaring, “F*ck Raul!” This triggers the US fan who can be seen lunging forward in an attempt to snatch the Mexico flag from out of the man’s hands. You can hear the male Karen yell, “Are you f*cking serious?” as what appears to be a scuffle between fans breaks out.
As the video spreads online, social media users took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the clip. One Redditor shared, “ICE will just arrest all the teams opposing Team USA…” while another chimed in with, “World Cup is going to be a sh*t show“. Elsewhere, another commented, “F*ck me, if this guy is so scared of a piece of material I’ve got a sheet of paper that will positively make him sh*t his pants” while another replied to this, writing, “Is it the constitution?“
While it’s unclear whether anyone was injured during the ruckus, one thing is for sure: that sort of unwarranted disrespect towards another nation’s flag is totally unreasonable, and makes the US fan look like a male Karen. Maybe show some respect next time, right?
