Viral Video: White Woman Confronts Black Woman For Laughing Too Loud, ‘Scaring’ Her At Gym
(Screen grab of Twitter video)
A video that shows a white woman confronting another woman in the gym has sparked an online debate.
Ms ash’s posh omg’s TikTok video shows a middle-aged white woman telling the woman behind the camera that she has a problem with her laughter in the gym. When approached, the woman recording the video appears to be on the call.
“Sweetheart, when you laugh like that, you scared—you made me jump out of my skin,” said the middle-aged woman, whom some are now calling Karen.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman behind the camera said. “Are you OK?”
“Yes, you scared the crap out of me,” the other woman said while holding her chest.
“I can’t hear you because I have my headphones in,” said the woman behind the camera.
The woman recording explains to the white woman that she didn’t notice that she “did anything” and that the room is empty, so there’s an echo, which may have caused her laughter to seem louder.
“I can’t help how I laugh. I am sorry,” the woman behind the camera said. “I didn’t mean anything behind it.”
The white woman then takes her hat, keys, and other belongings and starts to leave the gym.
“I am not complaining about how you laugh or the way you laugh or whatever but have consideration for other people,” the white woman said. “Respect, Honey. You’re in a gym.”
The woman recording then follows the other woman as she walks outside of what appears to be a housing complex.
“Stop because I am going to call the cops on you,” the white woman said.
“You’re very disrespectful, Sweetheart. Very disrespectful, and I am calling the police,” she added.
“The Black woman was way too apologetic,” wrote Jay Steve on YouTube.
“Karen was already nervous about being in a room alone with a Black person, which is why she is so jumpy to be scared by a laugh,” wrote YouTube user Joyfullydreaded.
Other commenters called for harsher penalties for frivolous calls to the police.
“If this Karen did call the police, the police need to give her a ticket or hold her accountable for calling them for a non-urgent matter, this is getting ridiculous & would stop once these IDIOTS are held accountable,” YouTube user CHNurseBSNRN 10-21 wrote.
Many commenters also criticized the woman recording the video for following “Karen.”
“I’m sorry. But the young lady with the camera should have just let go. She followed the lady instead of just letting it go. She made the situation worse than it should have been,” wrote YouTube user Gary Martin Live 2.0.
“She lost her moral high ground when she started following her. Let them be stupid, no need to be provocative like that,” wrote Reddit user Goldy2910.
As of August 22, the video was no longer available on TikTok. Rashad Richey, a news commentator, posted the video on his YouTube channel on August 21, where it has nearly 200,000 views and over 4,500 comments. According to Richey, the woman behind the camera is Black. It was also viewed nearly 18,000 times and received over 2,000 comments on Reddit.
Some commenters accused the white woman of overacting.
“She was following her because she has no idea what Karen may spin alone with the police. What if she said she was assaulted by her, a lie, but this has been done before? Especially if the police roll their eyes about calling for this.”
