[2 July Update – It’s come to light that the male Karen in this article is actually an employee of ShopRite, though we still think his actions were entirely unnecessary and unjustified. Original story follows]
While we’ve had some classic Karen moments lately, from racists to sly and nasty women to even an anti-Karen who actually turned out to be super wholesome and kind, today brings us something slightly different: an incredibly cringeworthy male Karen who only has himself to blame. Indeed, this male Karen, who was spotted in Wilmington, Delaware confronted a Black woman in a ShopRite car park, because he suspected that she had stolen all the shopping in her trolley. Suffice to say, police arrived on the scene, and it quickly became apparent that the Black woman in question had bought and paid for her shopping just like everybody else.
The awkward exchange was captured by a witness sat in a car nearby, and opens in the ShopRite car park in Wilmington. Accompanying the footage is the caption, “He Tried to Say She Was Stealing” and centers on a male Karen sporting a blue t-shirt and grey pants, and a Black woman wearing an orange top and pushing a trolley filled with food shopping. At the beginning of the video, the male Karen can be seen attempting to wrestle the trolley away from the elderly woman.
“Call the cops. Yeah, get this on tape. Yeah, please.” fires the Black woman, as the man tries to pull the trolley filled with food away from her. “Ma’am, don’t” exclaims the male Karen, who is convinced that the woman is stealing the food in her trolley. “I have got to do this, because you can’t take my stuff.” states the woman.
Meanwhile, another witness off camera can be heard saying something like, “She did pay for that stuff.” though the man doesn’t seem to take the hint. To this supportive person, the woman yells back, “I thank you. He’s going to jail. He is going to jail. I need y’all to record all this sh*t.” The person off camera can then be heard telling the male Karen that she “waited in line with her,” and “she paid for that stuff.” To this, the man simply states, “Alright.”
As tensions continue to escalate, the elderly woman shouts, “911, he’s stealing my sh*t right here! He’s trying to steal my stuff!” In the background, you can hear the male Karen say, “All I asked was for her receipt.” while he speaks to the other witness off camera. However, the Black woman declares, “No he did not. You argued and took my sh*t!” before expressing to a police officer who is approaching, “Excuse me, officer. He tried to steal my sh*t. I need all his information.”
“I did ask for a receipt.” admits the Karen, though the woman disagrees stating, “You did not. You took my stuff!” When the police officer arrives, the woman clarifies, “Officer, I need his information. I went through and paid for all my stuff. He came to my cart and started taking my items. Come on over here, I’ll show you.” before the video comes to a close.
As the video continues to spread online, social media users sided with the Black woman and condemned the actions of the male Karen. Over on Instagram, one local explained, “They check receipts when you leave at this location, there’s no way she made it out the store with 2 carts of stolen items” while another user, who sounds like is a possible relative of the lady at the heart of the drama, wrote, “My sister said to thank you all so much for the love and she’s appreciated each and everyone of you for the support“.
On Reddit, however, many comments took aim at the Karen, with one commenter penning, “He’s standing there, arms crossed, like, “yeah sure you paid. You’re black! There’s no way you paid.”” A fourth remarked, “And if you reversed their races he’d have guns drawn on him as she drives off without anyone checking her receipt.”
While the police did arrive on the scene, it’s unclear what actually happened as a result of the awkward exchange. According to many comments, however, much of the drama seemed to stem from the fact that the woman’s food shopping was not bagged up, which is one of the reasons why the male Karen likely accused the woman of stealing in the first place. However, in the state of Delaware, stores are actually banned from giving out free plastic bags in a bid to help reduce waste and pollution, so the woman likely opted to forgo purchasing any bags, which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense, however? Confronting a woman in a car park and accusing her of stealing with no evidence. That does not make sense at all, right?
