Total Karen Meltdown in Victoria's Secret store. (Videos)

[Richard D]

Ijeoma Ukenta captured the bizarre incident in which Abigail Elphick charged at her and later becomes hysterical when she realizes she’s being recorded.

A white woman caught on camera attacking a Black woman in Victoria’s Secret store had a full meltdown after realizing her rude and violent behavior had been caught on camera.

The first of a six-part YouTube video recorded at the Short Hills Mall and posted by Ijeoma Ukenta Sunday shows the woman, identified in a police report as Abigail Elphick, charging at her with a hand open as if to strike her. In later recordings, Ukenta said she was browsing at the lingerie store when the woman moved in front of her, basically pushing her out of the way.

https://news.yahoo.com/victoria-secret-karen-attacks-black-142805127.html

[chowder66]

1. Whoa! That's like watching a severely spoiled child lose their mind because someone said no. nt

[Johnny2X2X]

2. I think that one is mentally ill

That's not just spoiled brat behavior, she's simply suffering from mental illness.

[Twoflower]

6. I totally agree very sad.

[ShazzieB]

9. I agree. That is not a well woman.

[joetheman]

28. Had it been the other way around what would you and all the other think and feel" How fast would

Security come and what would have been done?

No question in my mind that the black woman would have been handcuffed, thrown on the floor and escorted to jail. She would be seen as poor. pitiful, mental case.

[Blue Dawn]

21. I am heartbroken watching this.

[Shellback Squid]

26. I agree, we should not mock her illness, calling her a "karen" is a mockery of her

mental state and is cruel

[Blue Dawn]

34. I totally agree with you.

This is not one bit funny. It is painful for me to watch. I feel deep compassion for this young woman.

It is obvious that she is in deep emotional anguish. I would have reached out to her to assist her, not continue videoing her so I could humiliate her online.

I am flabbergasted by the people who are calling her a "brat" and saying that she is "spoiled."

She needs compassion and kindness. I, for one, would have offered her that.

[vanlassie]

60. Maybe what you say is true, that she was mentally unstable.

But I would not say the black woman should stop filming- her lived life tells her she must protect herself from all forms of “mentally unstable” people.
Getting back to the white woman. Several different people approached her and seemed to be willing to try to help her. What exactly do you all think the best thing to do would have been? I know what seems obvious to me…. Suggesting that she leave the store to get away from the source of her anxiety. “Who has the problem?” This is a question I have found often points to way to what needs to happen next.

[Marrah_Goodman]

35. Nope

She told the police she pretended she had the meltdown when she realized her behavior was being filmed and was worried about her job and apartment.

[MiniMe]

3. 1'm going to chase somebody around the store saying "get her away from me"

Something is terribly wrong with that lady

[Kali]

4. ugh, malls.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Short Hills? That was one of the most upscale malls in Joisey. Maybe still is. What kind of...

customers are they getting now?

And, as with a lot of these, I can't help but wonder what else happened that we are not seeing.

[NQAS]

7. My take?

There’s something wrong with both women. Okay, there may have been an initial assault of some kind, but that’s not clear. After that, the white woman had a breakdown. At that point the filming should have stopped. After that it was just cruel. And no one tried to help that woman. They ignored her or mocked her. That’s cruel.

I didn’t hear any racist words. I heard a woman who didn’t want to be filmed. That said, she could have walked away, but once the breakdown started rational behavior was gone. The filmer could also have stopped filming. She could have restarted if the woman started on any any racist attack.

This was just sad.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Interesting, I saw someone acting like an entitled baby who became increasingly incensed

that people didn't rush to her defense and worked herself into hysteria, and someone recording the goings-on to protect herself, because once the cops are called, all bets are off.

[Withywindle]

11. Agree with this

This kind of behavior from white women has a long history of getting people lynched. Break out the tears and hysterics to win sympathy and paint themselves as the victim of the Scary Black Person when they were the one who started the problem in the first place.

If she was upset about being recorded, she could have just turned her back and walked away.

The black woman recording everything was smart to do so. As bad as this incident was, it could have gone much worse for her and she knows it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. People can't wait to excuse white women's tears.

[Shellback Squid]

27. and it's cruel to mock mental illness and I ain't white

[WhiskeyGrinder]

51. We don't know she has a mental illness.

[Metatron]

54. Yes, that is exactly what I saw, too.

An adult having a tantrum.

[KT2000]

13. When the white woman

told the police the other woman was threatening her, that explains why the woman had to continue filming her. Maybe the white woman needs to learn that she is not in charge of another person's behavior, and throwing a tantrum when it did not work is not acceptable behavior.
I support the black woman because in the case of a she said she said, they would automatically believe the white woman.

[myccrider]

55. THIS!

I don’t believe the white woman was having anything more than a temper tantrum. It looked too calculated. Her "collapse" on the floor, her second charge at the black woman, her crying and screaming. She couldn’t just walk out of the store if she was triggered by someone pointing a phone at her? After she charged the person with her hand raised the first time? Looked and sounded like an act to me.

If it is mental illness that has not been treated, this is valuable documentation of her problem. She obviously needs to walk away from her triggers and her doctors should know that she needs more or better treatment.

If her mental illness is racism, then the woman filming was smart to document that problem, too.

All these "Karens" have mental problems. I don’t think not documenting their aggression will encourage change in behavior or better medical treatment!

[cally]

14. That's how I saw it.

It was cruel to record a breakdown like that. Not clear to me that the initial aggression wasn’t because the woman started to record.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. Working yourself into hysteria is not a breakdown.

[Marrah_Goodman]

36. No the black woman was filming to protect herself

[obamanut2012]

44. SHE LITERALLY TOOK A SWUNG AT THE BLACK WOMAN

Then screamed and verbally attacked and accused her, THEN CHASED HER AROUND THE STORE AFTER SHE RETREATED.

COME ON, STOP EXCUSING THIS! THE WHITE WOMAN CALLED THE COPS AND LIED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED!

[fishwax]

25. If the woman didn't want to be filmed, she could have left

The woman doing the filming wasn't chasing the other woman around the store. The white woman charged her, and then later chased her around the store, and claimed repeatedly that she was being aggrieved. She could have ended the situation just by leaving if she no longer wanted to be filmed.

[obamanut2012]

43. And, you just proved why CRT SHOULD be taught in middle and high school

And not only college.

Well done!

[alphafemale]

8. The carefully laying down to fake a faint

Oh ---- Kay

[hatrack]

17. Carefully placing the purse under her head . ..

[susanr516]

40. Yep.

I've seen a few people faint before. They dropped like they were shot, totally limp. That wasn't a breakdown, just a ton of drama.

[Raine]

41. Seemed fake, didn't seem like really hysteria at all

and that fainting, oh geesh.

[Mosby]

12. The woman recording was violating company policy

At some point companies are going to have to address this. No one tried to de-escalate, pretty bad situation all around.

[clementine613]

23. Even if that's true, violating company policy is not a crime.

If VS wanted her to stop filming, they should have said something to her.

And none of that excuses the other woman's behavior.

[tishaLA]

31. Victoria's Secret forbids filming in their stores?

Where does that info come from? How do so many people post videos in the store of them trying on clothing in that case?

[Mosby]

50. Walk into a store with a video camera and see what happens.

You need permission, it's private property, ffs.

[tishaLA]

52. LOL

I guess you didn't like the questions or you would have answered at least one of them.

[Mosby]

53. She filmed for close to an hour I think

Last edited Wed Jul 14, 2021, 02:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Thats different than a short video about clothes or whatever.

I think the whole thing may have been staged, that woman has a go fund me with $78,465* now to help compensate her for the pain and suffering she experienced while filming the other woman's breakdown. You do know that she wasn't assaulted, no one was arrested or charged with anything.

*eta.

[NickB79]

38. She's not an employee. What are they going to do?

Ban her from the store?

[obamanut2012]

45. lol she doesn't work for VS

And, it is legal to record at Short Hills. So wtaf.

And, sorry, retail workers aren't paid to handle this garbage. They called security, they did what they should have done.

[Mosby]

49. Its private property.

The manager was obligated to try and de-escalate and ask the customer to stop recording while in the store.

She failed to do that.

Do you think this helps Victoria secret brand?

[tishaLA]

15. Of course. Another white woman inserts herself

to tell the African American woman to walk away from the poor, put upon other white woman *while the white woman is making the scent*. Classic.

And the whole thing was designed to make the white woman appear as if she was being victimized by the big bad black lady--the phony tears, the throwing herself on the floor.

[FakeNoose]

18. This looks like a mental breakdown to me

She probably shouldn't be allowed out in public.
Definitely a PINS - person in need of supervision.

[tishaLA]

30. Nope. A "white woman in distress" act.

She admitted it to the cops.

[Marrah_Goodman]

37. It was an act

[tanyev]

20. Most likely a Qaren.

[Sapient Donkey]

22. I saw this and was shocked by the lady's behavior

But I am curious what sparked her to be recorded in the first place. The only video I can find starts at the point of her rushing the person recording. Which is obviously unacceptable and there isn't an excuse for that. But my concern is that if the recording was initiating because this woman was exhibiting some weird behavior, but wasn't aggressive. In other words, she was going through some sort of mental/manic episode in which she came off as "weird". I think a situation like that is different than a situation in which someone is behaving aggressively or racist or whatever it may be. I usually wouldn't be as standoffish with drawing my conclusions, but the fact there doesn't seem to be any video or even an explanation of what lead to the initial recording makes me wonder why.

Perhaps it does exist and I haven't seen it. Whether it's a video or even an explanation of what this lady was doing before that sparked the recording would be helpful. Just to be clear, this isn't an attempt to excuse the lady's behavior. Nor does the race of anyone come into play, I would be asking the same question either way (I think my posting history supports this) I just find the lack of context about what lead to the recording odd. This really comes down to me not wanting to me piling onto someone who was in the midst of mental whatever, because someone thought it would be amusing to record a "crazy lady" acting odd.

[tishaLA]

29. The recording starts where it does because

that's when the aggression started. There's actually a series of videos, I think 7 in all, and the woman who was actually being victimized ended up filing a complaint because of the ways she was treated when the police finally arrived (hint: the white woman was treated as if she was the victim) and the victim shows a copy of the police report. The same thing happened with mall security, which arrived earlier than the cops did, naturally, because race is absolutely central to this whole thing. She even tells 911 (I'm assuming, but it's on the phone before the cops get there) that the woman is threatening her and chasing her, just like the Central Park bird watcher.

In the police report, the aggressive white woman says that one of the reasons she was behaving the way she did (this is in video #5 IIRC) was because she was afraid of the repercussions the video might have on her work and apartment situations.

[Sapient Donkey]

32. So, the lady who had the outburst was aggressive toward the woman recording before the video starts?

I was trying to find information on what happened before, but information on that seems sparse. I saw the part where she mentioned she was worried about how she would look if the video was released online (yet continued to act like a child), but the video started with her charging the woman. Before the charging there was no video being recorded. So, I am still left wondering if the lady was perhaps berating the woman who was recording for whatever reason (pre recording), was being rude to the cashier, or was perhaps just acting "odd". If it's first two, or something similar, then this is like any other entitled white woman who lashes out. She ultimately has to live with those repercussions. If the latter, then I think changes the situation a bit.

[tishaLA]

33. The VS employees are trying to protect the videographer

throughout, which is *not* what would happen if she'd initiated the aggression, especially considering she's a black woman.

[Sapient Donkey]

39. I wouldn't consider the lady recording it as the one initiating aggression either way

Even in the most uncharitable case against the person filming, there is a big difference between being annoying vs what the white lady did. The aggressive person is clearly the white lady, and the regardless of what happened (or didn't happen) she was the one causing the ongoing scene and who elevated it to a physical level. I don't see any reason to black woman filming did anything that justifies the aggression. So, it makes sense that the woman filming would be protected from the lady who is obviously a danger. I would still like to know what the white lady was doing before that caused the women filming to start filming. Was this lady acting erratic before the confrontation, was it just out of the blue she ran after the woman, or was she spewing racist garbage toward the black woman and that's what made her bring out her camera.

And the only reason why I am wondering this is because it hasn't been addressed. Some might ask why that matters, but I have hard time understanding why it doesn't matter.

[Karma13612]

47. Spot on!

And I couldn’t have said it better than you just did.

My first question is:

What started it???

[clementine613]

24. Ugh. Rethugs.

[alphafemale]

42. This looks like another woman ranting things in another viral video who attacked an Asian Child

Both blonde and ranting about being attacked while charging at people.

[GulfCoast66]

46. I can't believe all the people here saying the white women is mentally ill.

A real insult to the actually people with mental illnesses.

This is what people who feel privileged act like when those they think they are privileged over say ‘fuck that’.

I’ve seen the anger in my fellow white Southern Males when they get treated the same as people of color. Never seen one attack someone, but they get pissed.

Especially those with nothing in their live to make them feel special except being white.

[kcr]

59. I can't believe all the people here who think they're such experts on mental illness n/t

[Karma13612]

48. Is there a video missing?

I can’t see how the whole thing started.

I feel like video #1 might not be video #1. Or there is no video #1.

[SKKY]

56. I would like to see what happened before the recording started....

...Like, what would the VS cameras show. There seems to be context missing here.

[RobinA]

57. Without Seeing How This Started

I'm taking a "pox on both their houses" approach. Walk away white lady. Walk away black lady. They are each provoking the other.