Karen memes are going viral and the manager I spoke to says they're hilarious

7 April 2020, 17:50

By Jazmin Duribe

Is Karen actually a racial slur? Nope, it's not. Let's discuss.

You've probably noticed the name Karen has popped up on your timeline a lot this week. Sadly, it's nothing to do with Marvel actress Karen Gillan or Mob Wives star Karen Gravano.

In case you didn't know, Karen was a term created by black women to describe a racist and entitled white woman. "Karen is a catchall for entitled middle-class CIS white women who weaponize their status against the working class and minorities," Camilla Blackett wrote on Twitter. However, now there's actually a debate whether it's a racial slur… FYI, it's not.

READ MORE: The best memes of 2020 (so far)

On Sunday (Apr 5), controversial feminist writer Julie Bindel questioned if Karen could be a slur. She tweeted: "Does anyone else think the ‘Karen’ slur is woman hating and based on class prejudice?" Some agreed with her and said the word was "sexist, classist and ageist".

Some even tried to compare it to the N-word, with a Twitter poll asking just how offensive the term is. The poll reads: "The term 'Karen' is being used as a sexist and racist slur. Considering this is an equivalent of the n-word for white women, should it be banned on Twitter?" Er…

However, as usual, the internet has found some humour in this situation and now the Karen meme has been born.

In conclusion, having not been colonised, lynched or subjected to centuries of oppression (see, Kelechi Okafor's tweets), white women being called Karen can not be a slur, ok?