UPDATED 7/15, 10:25 a.m. ET: “Walmart Karen” is seen wearing a Kaiser Permanente shirt—a company that deems itself “one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans”—in the video, and the company has now responded.
“Thank you for sharing this,” reads its response to a tweet featuring a clip of the confrontation. “This video has been brought to our attention and we are actively investigating it. The conduct in this video does not in any way reflect the views or beliefs of Kaiser Permanente.”
See original story below.
It seems Karens will never learn.
On Monday, California resident Ya’shear Bryant posted a Facebook video of an unfortunate interaction at a Moreno Valley Walmart. The footage begins with a visibly upset woman standing in the parking lot with her cellphone up to her ear. The beginning of their exchange was not caught on camera, but Bryant claims the woman falsely accused him of stealing her young child’s phone. Bryant said the woman was eyeing him in the store, right around the time her child’s phone had seemingly gone missing.
“I know I’m Black with tattoos, so she automatically assumes I have it,” he said in the video.
Bryant explained that the woman had tracked the phone and determined it was located in the parking lot next to his car. Bryant continued to tell the woman he did not have the device.
“She runs up to me and says, ‘Excuse me, you have my son’s phone?’ I pull my phone out, and tell her I do not. … The reason I’m not leaving is because I don’t have the phone. That’s why I’m not leaving.”
The woman is heard telling Bryant that they’re going to “fix this” and wait for the police to arrive. He then asks her what she will do once she realizes he never had the phone. “What do I get? Just an apology?”
“Sure,” the woman responds.
Seconds later, Bryant begins walking away, prompting the woman to follow him and demand he stay there until he gives the phone back. Bryant is seen walking away from the woman as she continues to follow him through the parking lot before returning inside the Walmart.
“I’m definitely pressing charges,” he tells the camera. “This is racial profiling. You guys see it on camera yourself.”
Once they arrive at the front of the store, Bryant is heard telling an employee that the woman falsely accused him of stealing a phone.
“I have a family. I’m a married man,” he continues. “I’m dealing with this woman’s irateness because her son can’t be responsible for a phone. That’s not my fault. But being racially profiled? That’s gonna be hers.”
Moments later, the woman’s son walks into the frame with the missing phone in hand.
“Her son found it in the car,” Bryant says as the woman is seen talking to the child. “Now I’m gonna press charges. May I have your name ma'am, please?”
“No. You go fuck yourself,” the woman says before walking away.
Bryant told Cali.Fm he intends to file a police report against the woman and has already been contacted by a discrimination attorney.
