Top 10 Karens Who Ruined Their Own Lives

Top 10 Karens Who Ruined Their Own Lives

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Karens Who Ruined Their Own Lives.

For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the most opinionated and entitled folk who, through their own terrible actions, received some righteous and delicious karma.

Have you ever met a Karen in real life? Let us know below!

#10: Key Fob Kelly

In 2018, D’Arreion Toles attempted to go inside his apartment building in St. Louis, Missouri. However, Hilary Brooke Mueller wasn’t keen on that idea. She stood in his way and blocked his path. As they spoke, Mueller acted as though she owned the building – she didn't – and kept asking which unit Toles lived in, demanding to see his key fob. Even though he had a key to get in, she continued harassing him inside after Tole had to force his way past her. Once the video was released, many accused Mueller of being racist. However, she claimed it was because she didn’t recognize Tole. Regardless, Mueller’s employer Tribeca STL fired her for her dodgy behavior.

#9: Texas Karen

In 2022, a group of four Indian-American women was walking to their cars after dinner in Plano, Texas. Instead of going home after a nice night, they had to endure the racist tirade of Mexican-American Esmeralda Upton. Using a flurry of slurs and insults, the unhinged Upton also struck the women several times and threatened them. Feeling in danger from the abuse and attacks, they called the cops, who arrived shortly after. Later on, Upton was arrested for assault and making threats. But that’s not all! At the time of writing, two of the four women, Bidisha Rudra and Indrani Banerjee, have issued lawsuits against Upton for the traumatizing incident.

#8: Permit Patty

Have you ever seen a child harmlessly selling something on the street to raise money for something and thought, “yeah, I’m gonna ruin their life?” If so, you and Alison Ettel could be besties. In 2018, in San Francisco, eight-year-old Jordan Rodgers was selling bottled water on the street to help her mom financially and go to Disneyland. Ettel, infuriated by the constant noise as she worked from home, called the cops about Rodgers’ lack of a permit. As you can imagine, this didn’t go down well with the internet, which pointed out the racist overtones. With all that pressure and dispensaries refusing to stock products from Ettel’s employer, she was forced to resign as CEO of the cannabis company TreatWell Health.

#7: Victoria’s Secret Karen

In 2021, something strange happened at a Victoria’s Secret store in Millburn, New Jersey, while Ijeoma Ukenta was doing some shopping. Ukenta reportedly claimed she asked Abigail Elphick to step back as she was too close when they browsed. So, she went to the staff and told them Ukenta threatened her. When Ukenta began filming, Elphick attempted to hit her before she sobbed on the floor. Later, Elphick stated her reaction was due to a panic attack from being filmed. In the aftermath, Ukenta created a GoFundMe page for legal costs against Elphick. Within the page, she also criticized the handling of the situation by the security and police. At the time of writing, over $104,000 has been donated.

#6: Coughing Karen

As most people came together during the global events to support each other, some did their best to do the opposite. In 2021, masked shoppers in a Super Saver store in Lincoln, Nebraska, attempted to get their groceries calmly. However, Janene Hoskovec had other ideas. With a smirk on her unmasked face, she dramatically coughed at people, pretending it was allergies. When folk protested Hoskovec’s grotesque actions, she patronizingly called them “cute” and “sheep” before descending into a rant about other people’s health. After a very quick investigation, her employer, the software company SAP, fired Hoskovec.

#5: Smoothie Thrower

In 2022, employees at Robeks in Fairfield, Connecticut, were trying to get through the day. Well, not on James Iannazzo’s watch! After buying a smoothie there, he gave it to his son at home, who had an allergic reaction. After medical attention, Iannazzo arrived at the store and launched into a tirade of insults, slurs, and threats. However, the employees claimed he never mentioned the peanut allergy to them. He finished it off by throwing the smoothie at the staff. Well, it all went wrong for Iannazzo. Firstly, he was arrested and received one year of probation. Then, Iannazzo was fired by Merrill Lynch. Finally, he faced a lawsuit from one of the employees, but in September, the case was settled for $7,500.

#4: San Fran Karen

Looking like a mix between a character from “Smile” and “Get Out,” James Juanillo was probably pretty startled in 2020 when he turned around and saw Lisa Alexander staring at him. At the time, he had just finished writing “Black Lives Matter” with chalk on a property in San Francisco. Well, Alexander and her husband Robert apparently knew the person who lived there. This is odd since Juanillo actually resided there for years. The couple then called the cops on the activist. Once the video was released, Alexander had to put the website of her company, LaFace Skincare, offline temporarily, and she publicly apologized to Juanillo. While Robert was fired from the financial firm Raymond James.

#3: Radio Karen

It’s not every day a Karen films her own terrible behavior for the world to see and judge. But Dianna Ploss is on another level considering she had a little bit of fame. In 2020, through Facebook Live, the conservative radio host recorded herself berating landscapers in Nashua, New Hampshire, as they were working on the street. Ploss seemingly had an issue with the workers speaking Spanish. She repeatedly told them to speak in English before asking if any of them were “illegal” and saying their work was “communism.” Geez. Afterward, the radio station WSMN cut ties with Ploss and the show she had hosted there for the past couple of years.

#2: Family of Karens

In 2021, Johnny Martinez was doing his job by checking cars for permits in the car park of a residential building in Nashville, Tennessee. However, he realized he was being followed by a Karen family duo, Bitsy Brennan and her son, Edward. The two demanded to know what he was doing there, ignoring the ID badge around Martinez’s neck. Things quickly escalated when Edward attempted to attack Martinez in response to him filming the confrontation. In response, Bitsy called the cops to come and sort this out. However, the duo apparently left before the police arrived. Once the video went viral, Bitsy was reportedly fired from her job at UBS, while Edward was charged with assault.

#1: Central Park Karen

If this incident hadn’t been filmed, it could have ended poorly for the victim. In 2020, Christian Cooper was in Central Park in New York City, enjoying some bird watching. But he spotted Amy Cooper, no relation, with her dog that was off its lead, against the park’s rules. When Christian asked her to leash the dog and then offered it a treat, Amy exploded. While strangling the poor pup as she held its collar tightly, she called the police, put on an act, and claimed: “an African-American man” threatened her. Wow. After the backlash, Amy temporarily gave up her dog to a shelter and was fired by her employer Franklin Templeton. She later took them to court for illegal dismissal, only to lose.