A woman was kicked out of a Starbucks in Miami after going on an anti-Asian and anti-lesbian rant against other customers.
The incident, which was partly caught in a now-viral video, reportedly occurred at the Starbucks on Coral Way and 27th Avenue on March 6.
Cassie Urry and Lorrin Skrbec, a queer couple from Ohio, said they were getting coffee ahead of their cruise vacation when they first noticed the woman making racist comments toward people of color, calling them a “product of the devil.”
The woman allegedly zeroed in on an Asian customer, blaming the Asian community for bringing “COVID over here to kill all of our people” and calling them “creations of the devil.”
That’s when Urry and Skrbec decided to step in and call out the woman, who then turned her attention to them.
“Is lesbianism OK? No it isn’t,” the woman declares. “Because you touch children. You rape children.”
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
The woman’s comments shocked the rest of the store, with both staff and customers responding in a chorus of “no” — but she was not done yet.
“Do not record me,” the woman then demands. “That is against the law, sweetheart. Do you know who I work for? Do you know who I am?”
The incident ends with the arrival of the store manager, who appears to escort the woman out of the premises.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourselves,” she told Urry and Skrbec before leaving.
Urry, who dubbed the woman “Karen in the wild,” first posted the video on TikTok, where it has since received 7.1 million views. It was later reposted on Twitter, where it has garnered over 5 million views.
“I am so sorry you experienced this,” one TikTok user commented. “I’m in awe at how calm you were.”
Another replied, “‘Do you know who I work for?’ No lady, but we’re going to find out.”
Urry explained in a follow-up post on TikTok that the incident was unprovoked.
She denied engaging with her partner in a public display of affection that could have caused a disturbance at the store.
Miami police arrived shortly after the incident.
“Upon the officer’s arrival, it appears that the parties had been separated without further incident The officer was able to make contact with the female and instructed her to leave the premises and safely crossed her across the street without any other issue,” the said in a statement.
Urry also praised the staff at the Starbucks store for handling the situation competently. In response to the incident, a Starbucks spokesperson told NBC 6, “Behavior like this is not tolerated and this customer is no longer welcome in any of their [sic] stores.”
