A Male Karen Went Scorched Earth At McDonald's Over Napkins

Thanks to a racist rant by Jennifer Schulte, the middle-aged white woman later dubbed "BBQ Becky," memes assigning a nom-de-plume to white people wielding their privilege have gone viral. The video, recorded in 2018 by YouTuber Michelle Dione, captured what Dione originally titled "White Woman Called Out for Racially Targeting Black Men Having BBQ in Oakland," and was viewed one million times within the first two weeks (per Know Your Meme).

According to Yahoo!, Permit Patty and Central Park Karen videos followed, calling out white women with privilege who "patrol people of color." In a short period, being called 'Karen' evolved to include white women not getting what they wanted and demanding to speak to the manager. While Dr. Apryl Williams, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan and Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, says this behavior is seen in white men too, this type of public demonstration of entitlement is primarily displayed by women.

Although names like Chad, Terry, and Ken have been thrown around as the male version of 'Karen,' even challenging one Reddit user to analyze 70 years of baby name data, a single name has yet to be assigned via Audacy. Nonetheless, that detail hasn't stopped 'male Karens' caught on camera behaving poorly — including one guy recently seen in a viral video taken at McDonald's in Tucson, Arizona.

McDonald's employee and TikTok user @jessicadmv1993 caught a white man on video verbally assaulting coworkers after a disappointing drive-thru experience which she cynically called "Just A regular day working at McDonald's." The man, whose face is out of frame for most of his tirade, adheres to all the requirements laid out by Dr. Caron Sada to be considered a 'male Karen.' The white man (check) immediately demands to speak with the manager (check) after he realizes he didn't receive a 'single napkin' with his food. Hot-headed and incredulous, he berates the staff telling them to "get [their] head out of [their] a**" while yelling for others to 'shut up' (check). He felt victimized (check) for not being given napkins.

The video, which one commenter called "a little over the top," has been viewed over 146,000 times. Although most of the 2,000 comments condemn this type of behavior as disproportionate to the 'crimes' he suffered, some stand by him, remarking, "he stating facts, they never give you napkins." Not only does the video show McDonald's staff offering to rectify the problem, but with a commitment to being "America's best first job," the staff is often made up of young adults who may not be experienced enough to handle this type of outburst. Unfortunately, 'male Karens' persist — something unsurprising to Dr. Apryl Williams, who believes these internet memes are "representative of the entire state of American culture" right now, amplified (per Yahoo!).