A video of a white woman preventing an African-American food delivery guy from entering her apartment building because she thinks he's there to do something wrong is being widely circulated on social media.
Video footage of the racist encounter, which took place in Los Angeles, California, was originally shared by Jordan Myke Gipson on Instagram. Gipson was making a Postmates delivery to a resident in a building in LA's Westwood neighborhood when he was confronted by the woman at the entrance of the building who refused to let him in.
'Is This a Hold up?'
The first clip starts off with the woman questioning why he was wearing a "green thing" over his face. "Because you are hiding something yeah I don't know. Is this a hold up or something?" she can be heard asking Gipson, who was wearing a green cloth as a mask given the current coronavirus situation.
In the second clip, the woman then appears to block his entry into the building by standing in front of the entrance. "I'm glad I was here. We don't buzz people in," she says before telling Gipson not to film her. "Don't point that sh*t at me."
Gipson then calls the apartment using the building's buzzer. "I have food I have to deliver to somebody ma'am," Gipson tells the woman, who responds by saying, "Don't deliver anything here. We don't want you delivering. I don't want you here."
'Get out of My Building'
The customer, named Paul, then answers the call and Gipson tries to explain the situation to him, when the woman butts in. "Hello, who is this? Who is on the speaker? I live here in this building." she tells him.
Paul then tells the woman he's expecting a Postmates delivery. The woman asks him where he lives and proposes to deliver the food to him herself. "I'm not letting this man in."
When Paul asks the woman to identify herself, she snaps at him saying, "I live here assh*le and I pay rent here," which he says he does too.
The woman then tells Paul to "get out of my building because you don't live here."
Gipson then tries to point out to Paul that he's just a black man trying to do his job. "I don't care if he's a purple man. He doesn't live here," she tells Paul referring to Gipson. "I don't want people buzzing him into my building."
'He's Not a Delivery Boy'
The "Karen" then goes on to claim that Gipson is not a delivery guy because he didn't get out of a car, bike or ride-hailing service like Lyft or Uber. Gipson then points out to his white sedan parked near the apartment building.
"He's a black guy walking around who has a clicker to get into any building he wants to," the woman says before realizing she's being recorded. "Can you not film me? I'll be behind you because I don't want you filming me" she can be heard saying as she tries to block the camera with her hand as Gipson laughs in the background.
Gipson rings Paul again, who at this point, tells him he's coming down to get his food. The woman changes her attitude after realizing she's being filmed. She then pretends to be polite as she asks Gipson how old he is.
"How old are you. 27? You're my son's age. You play ball? He plays basketball," she tells him before fussing over how their generation can't do anything without cellphones these days and asks him which smartphone he uses. "You like galaxy?," she asks before the video concludes with Paul coming to the door to collect his food.
