Source: CSPAN screenshot
Candace Owens has officially been dubbed “Karen Owens” by Black Twitter after she defended the white woman in Central Park who called the police on a Black bird-watcher.
Just when it seemed Owens couldn’t sink any further in her sunken politics, folks are calling out her actions as inexcusable. Even Black conservatives are baffled by her response to the viral Central Park incident.
“Central Park Karen” was trending on Tuesday after a video surfaced of Amy Cooper calling the cops on Christian Cooper. The clip was posted by Christian’s sister, Melody, who mockingly called Amy “Karen” to group her with the many white women who frantically call the cops on Black people.
Before the video was recorded, Christian says he simply asked Amy to comply with New York City law and put her dog on a leash in a section of Central Park that’s known for bird-watching. However, Amy was clearly flustered by Christian’s request and the fact that he was recording her because she told Christian that she was going to call the cops and “tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
Amy followed through on her words by dialing the police and hysterically telling them that Cooper was threatening her, even though he was standing feet away from her. Such a move could have put Christian’s life in danger if the police arrived, especially considering police-involved killings such as the recent death of George Floyd.
However, Candance Owens couldn’t comprehend this idea and she defended Karen on Twitter, saying, “This woman is being dragged as a racist for absolutely no reason. Why are we so desperate to make everything about race?”
Even other Black conservatives couldn’t deal with Owens’ response. Conservative teen CJ Pearson defended Christian and called out Owens in a Twitter thread.
“What he said, and the tone he said it in, doesn’t even sound threatening. You can’t even see him reach for anything,” Pearson wrote. “She started fake crying and screaming about a black man to the police. how is this defensible?”
But, of course, Owens still defended Amy’s actions by citing Christian’s description of the incident on his Facebook page.
According to him, Amy’s dog was “tearing through the plantings” in the Ramble section of the park and he said that he told her, “Ma’am, dogs in the Ramble have to be on the leash at all times. The sign is right there.”
He said that Amy replied, “The dog runs are closed. He needs his exercise,” to which Christian replied, “All you have to do is take him to the other side of the drive, outside the Ramble, and you can let him run off leash all you want,” according to his Facebook post.
When Amy refused to listen to Christian, he said on Facebook that he told her, “Look, if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.” Then Christian says he pulled out a dog treat and called after Amy’s dog. He said he carries such items “just for such intransigence.”
When the dog started coming towards Christian this is when he says Amy yelled, “DON’T YOU TOUCH MY DOG!!!!!”
Christian says, “That’s when I started video recording with my iPhone, and when her inner Karen fully emerged and took a dark turn.”
Owens argued that calling the cops on Christian was justifiable based on his story. “It is always DEFENSIBLE to call the cops when someone says ‘you’re not going to like what I’m going to do’ and then reaches into their pockets. (By his own admission).”
Once again, Owens still lacked the historical and present-day context for the incident — like the fact that Amy was ignoring park rules by not having her dog on a leash, which could have put Christian in his right to call the park authorities on Amy. Owens also ignored the fact that Amy specifically said she was going to call the cops and tell them an “African American” man was threatening her “life”. This was after it was clear Christian didn’t have a visible weapon in-hand. This was after Christian told her in the video, “Please don’t come close to me,” which defuses any chance of a physical confrontation. Such words don’t “threaten” Amy’s “life.”
Did folks have the energy to explain this to Candace?
It was a hard “no” for many, especially considering her past record.
A lot of folks on social media just went straight to calling her “Karen Owen” and the jokes ensued. Check out some of the tweets below.
