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What exactly does one call a male “Karen?” A “Ken?” A “Scott?” A “Brad?”
How about a “James Iannazzo?”
I guess that last one is a little too specific, but Iannazzo is certainly a man who checked off all the “Karen” boxes in a Tik Tok video that recently went viral showing him accosting a group of teenage employees at Robeks smoothie shop in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Iannazzo—who was arrested and charged with intimidation based on bigotry or bias, breach of peace and criminal trespass behind the incident—claims he directed the employees not to put peanut butter in the smoothie he had ordered for his son. But the employees said he never said anything about his child’s peanut allergy (because simply not using peanut butter may not be enough to ensure his son doidn’t have a reaction), so they didn’t take the proper precautions while preparing the smoothie, which is why Iannazzo’s son reportedly had to be rushed to the hospital.
As Raw Story noted, “for those with severe allergies, using a spoon or pitcher that touched peanut butter can be deadly,” and “typically when food service workers are told that there is a severe allergy, additional measures are taken.”
But instead of having the foresight to not order anything even peanut-related for a kid with a peanut allergy (because…duh), Iannazzo decided the teens who work at the shop were the ones at fault, and being the entitled He-Karen that he is, he decided the answer was to attempt to force his way into the “employees only” area and to start verbally abusing the staff when that didn’t work.
“Stupid f*cking ignorant high school kids,” Iannazzo could be heard saying to the employees after he didn’t get his way. He also called one of them a “f*cking b*tch,” and another an “immigrant loser.”
“There was one girl, she was 16. Literally, it was like her second day,” the person who posted the original TikTok video explained, according to Raw Story. “She was in the back, already called the police.” The Tik Toker also said two employees were forced to block the employee door because “before I started recording he tried to get in multiple times.”’
Besides being arrested and charged, Iannazzo also lost his job as a top-ranking Merrill Lynch broker over the incident. According to Advisor Hub, a spokesperson from Merrill Lynch confirmed Iannazzo’s firing saying the “company does not tolerate behavior of this kind.”
“We immediately investigated and have taken action,” the statement continued. “This individual is no longer employed at our firm.”
Sooner or later, these Karen’s and their Karen husband’s are going to learn that cameras are everywhere these days and that their racism, entitlement and violent behavior will not be tolerated.
Tagged: entertainment blog, music blog, NEWS, racism