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Blavity News is a community and platform for Black Voices, Stories, Creators and thought.
© Blavity, Inc., 2022

Karen Went On Live TV To Compare Wearing A Mask To George Floyd's Last Words 'I Can't Breathe'

In the words of Ivan Drago, "If she dies, she dies."

September 15, 2020 at 8:37 pm

While the nation is still reeling from the devastating effects of COVID-19, some Americans appear to be fed up with the mask mandate issued across the country. During an anti-mask protest in St. George, Utah, last month, a local ABC news affiliate in Salt Lake City interviewed various attendees at the rally.

Jaw-dropping full report on Utah anti-mask protest. pic.twitter.com/lfpLj4cWkz

— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) September 13, 2020

The almost two-minute video highlighted city residents’ reactions, which ranged from angry to downright ignorant. But there was one protester's response that sparked outrage.

St. George resident, Shauna Kinville, despicably compared the life-saving safety measure to the heinous killing of George Floyd, saying to the reporter, "George Floyd was saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and then he died."

"Now we’re wearing a mask and saying ‘I can’t breathe,’ but we’re being forced to wear them," she added.

As video footage of her outrageous claim began spreading on social media, Twitter users' opinions of Kinville ranged from humorous to some users going full Inspector Gadget on that a*s.

Another Twitter user pointed out how irrational her thinking was.

She really thought she was sounding smart saying that. Foh pic.twitter.com/VAUCLzVpol

— The most opinionated (@Forehead270) September 14, 2020

And another Twitter user simply didn't have time to play with the woman, pulling receipts of Kinville's past arrest for assault.

Shauna Kinville.. this u? https://t.co/5hxOdHmuuq pic.twitter.com/G1DAC0MZ18

— runt (@aus10morris) September 14, 2020

Someone else highlighted the obvious reason for the side-eye Kinville earned in the Twitter streets.

Not racist white people refusing to wear masks in the name of George Floyd pic.twitter.com/3tdmmEpUn9

— jaden spliff (@jaegabling) September 14, 2020

But one Twitter user revealed that Kinville had changed her user name in an effort to mitigate further damage to her already "stellar" reputation.

Twitter begs to differ – saved links to KinvilleShauna redirect to your tweets – i.e. https://t.co/tlYqFyXLbL

Gotta remember – the Internet is forever…you can’t just change truth by changing your username. Just like “dear leader” can’t change things he’s said in the past…

— Jenna Islas (@fpm24601) September 15, 2020

Finally, one person eviscerated Kinville in less than 280 characters.

29 years old… racist ignorance destroys the mind body and soul and makes you look like a greasy 50 year old paint huffer apparently.

— SilverBlaze38mu (@blaze38mu) September 15, 2020

On May 25, Floyd died from asphyxiation due to a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck for almost eight minutes, Blavity previously reported. Video footage showed Floyd calling out for his mother in the final moments before he died.

Kinville's claim of not being able to breathe is a small part of a bigger problem that's brewing in the nation.

According to the CDC COVID-19 dashboard, there have been over 6.5 million documented cases of people contracting the virus. Of those cases, a little over 194,000 people have succumbed to the highly-contagious virus.

Nearly 23% of this nation's population refuses to wear a mask, according to a June report by the Advisory Board. Yet, as states take more drastic measures to protect Americans from the virus, that number will more than likely increase.