A woman was caught sending a racist text on a flight. Riah Elese, a TikTok user, recorded the woman’s phone screen while she typed the racist message. According to the TikToker, the woman first became frustrated when Elese accidentally whipped her with her hair.
Elese said she apologized to the woman twice, but the Karen proceeded to send a racist text on her phone. The unidentified woman insulted Elese’s hair in the text, describing it as “nasty dreads/corn rows.”
“There was a karen on my flight today, read what she texted her family,” Elese wrote when she posted the video on TikTok.
@riahelese Pause and read what she said. #racism #whitepeople #WeStickTogether #disrespectful #blacktiktok ♬ original sound – Riah Elese
In a follow-up post, Elese said she sat across the aisle from the woman during the flight and recorded the video as they were landing.
“The message basically said that she just got hit twice with the dreads/ cornrows of a COON — COON in all caps,” Elese said when she explained details of the incident. “She proceeded to call me disrespectful.”
@riahelese Replying to @iightdaughter this is the story time #WeStickTogether #karensoftiktok #racism #blacktiktok #disrespectful #karensgoingwild
Elese said she apologized after accidentally hitting the woman with her hair while grabbing her stuff as they were preparing to get off the plane. The woman, according to Elese, said, “Don’t worry about it,” after hearing the apology.
The woman still proceeded to send the racist text and tried “to secretly take a picture of me,” Elese said.
With more than 1 million views on the original video, Elese has received support from people who feel terrible about her experience. The TikToker also sent a message to people who think she’s milking the incident for attention.
“I didn’t post this for clout,” she said. “I just posted it to show that racism is still a real thing in 2022. It’s crazy that some people think that it just magically doesn’t exist.”
Elese also said she didn’t address the situation when she was on the flight because she felt like the woman wanted to get a reaction out of her.
