Evil ‘KAREN’ mask released for Halloween, the ‘scariest thing you can be’
Its creator, publicizing his mask on Instagram, wrote '2020 is the year of the KAREN! Scare all ur friends with ur big hair and narrow mind.'
A Los Angeles special effects artist has created a Halloween mask that is trending online and being touted as “the scariest thing you can be on Halloween.”
The KAREN mask depicts an angry White woman with red eyes and a flushed face, an open mouth and a familiar-looking blonde haircut.
The mask is based on the countless videos shared to social media where White women exercise their privilege in many deplorable ways, often in ways that are detrimental to African Americans.
The KAREN mask’s maker, Jason Adcock, has been sharing photos of his creation on Instagram.
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“It’s never too early to shop for #Halloween #costumes,” he wrote. “2020 is the year of the KAREN! Scare all ur friends with ur big hair and narrow mind.”
There are two versions of Adcock’s mask. One looks sickly and infected, while the other just looks scary. The masks are selling on Etsy for $180, where at press time, there are only three left.
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A Time magazine article from July notes that the Karen meme confronts the violent history of White womanhood.
The memes emerged out of a slang term for middle-aged White women who, through their constant requests to speak to a manager, demonstrate a “shameless display of entitlement, privilege and racism — and their tendency to call the police when they don’t get what they want.”
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One of the most infamous “Karen’s” of 2020 was Manhattan’s Amy Cooper, who called police on birdwatcher Christian Cooper (no relation) for asking her to put a leash on her dog.
Cooper invoked the man’s race in the call, escalating her voice to imply that she was being threatened with physical harm. The woman lost her job and was later charged with filing a false report.
In an interview with CNN, Cooper offered a half-,hearted apology, saying that she wanted to “publicly apologize to everyone,” that she was “not a racist” and that she “did not mean to harm that man in any way.”
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