Man Shames Terrified Woman for Being ‘Racist’ to Him in Viral Video — Then Sells T-Shirts About It

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 A Seattle man on Monday posted a video to social media that shows him confronting a woman for allegedly being rude and racist to him.

Karlos Dillard, an aspiring social media celebrity, pointed his camera phone at the woman as she cowered in her driveway, wailing and trying to hide her face.

  • In the 15-minute clip, Dillard accuses the woman of being a “Karen,” slang for a white woman who abuses her privilege, during an altercation they just had on the road.
  • He threatens to expose her identity — and films her license plate and her apartment building — for allegedly flipping him off after cutting in front of him in traffic.
  • He also claims she called him an anti-black slur.

The woman tearfully admits to cutting off Dillard, but denies his other accusations,saying she supports Black Lives Matter and has a “black husband.”

  • When Dillard asks her why she’s crying, she responds, “You’re going to ruin my life, and you don’t even know me.”

Dillard shared the footage of their exchange to his Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts, where it has been viewed millions of times. 

  • She later used Instagram to sell T-shirts commemorating the incident.
  • Twitter on Tuesday suspended Dillard’s account for violating its terms of service.

 The reaction: Like “victim”-activists behind previous “racist Karen” videos that went viral, Dillard immediately won sympathy and accolades from some social media users and members of the media

But conservative commentators were joined by some prominent liberals in denouncing Dillard’s stunt, and a number of mainstream news outlets were uncharacteristically critical. 

A number of right-wing bloggers sided with the woman and decried Dillar’s behavior as example of anti-racist ideology run amok.

  • The American Conservative editor Rod Dreher wrote that people like Dillard are “making it too risky for white people to have contact with black people.” 
  • “Beyond that, these grifters are destroying the possibility of social relations across racial lines by making everyone paranoid and angry,” he said.

Others, including liberal-leaning journalist Jesse Singal, suggested Dillard was a sort of grifter, resurfacing two previous videos of him accusing women of racism for minor slights and of slurring him off-camera. 

Others faulted Dillard for following the woman home, with one Twitter user tracking the distance he must have traveled in the process.

One modest addition to the Karlos Dillard story. His first confrontation with her is on Summit Avenue (see screenshot). A Google Maps search (and StreetView glimpse) shows this is blocks away from Melrose Avenue (where the “cutoff” happened). Did he stalk her from this point? pic.twitter.com/BwO6XuYSLY— Edward Champion (@EdwardChampion) June 24, 2020

Who is Karlos Dillard? Dillard is a BLM activist, a self-described “viral video star” and the author of a self-published book about growing up in foster care.

  • During a 2017 podcast appearance, he branded himself as “The Black Gay Conservative Atheist.”
  • He talked about how he voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, the injustice of federal taxes and the necessity of monogamy.
  • In a follow-up appearance last month, Dillard said he planned to vote for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in 2020.
  • He also criticized political correctness in the LGBT community and complained of being expelled from a gay club for being “transphobic.”
  • In a June 13 Facebook post, Dillard said Seattle’s police-free protest zone was “just another way to deafen [sic] the voices of black people.”
  • Dillard also appeared in a 2018 episode of “Divorce Court,” in which his husband, Kris, complained about his temper.

Dillard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Victimhood as culture: Some experts have observed a rise in what they call “victimhood culture,” which valorizes members of identity groups deemed to be oppressed or marginalized.

  • In this culture, people are said to be rewarded for showcasing their victim status, thereby incentivizing public shaming of supposed oppressors.
  • Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and campus free speech activist Greg Lukianoff have documented what they see as a resulting free-for-all of “call outs” and “cancelations” by college students.
By We'll Do It Live