About

The Lonzo Gambino TikTok Karen Video is a viral video uploaded by @lonzogambino, a Black man, in which he films a Karen calling 911 on him for allegedly threatening her, which Gambino refutes and believes is driven by racism. The video gained over 4.5 million views in a day and elicited responses from people defending Lonzo and accusing the Karen of being a racist.

Origin

On February 8th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @lonzogambino uploaded a video in which he films himself and a woman in the background on the phone, purportedly talking with 911. The video shows an on-screen caption, "Karen freaks out and calls police on young black man trying to do his job," and the video description reads, "Here’s a sample of what life is like being a black man in America 🙇🏾‍♂️." In the video, Gambino claims that the woman believes he threatened her. He asks what the threat was and she goes quiet, then acts increasingly distressed on the phone, which he believes is to get the police to come quicker. The video gained over 4.5 million views in a day (shown below).

Spread

After going viral, the video elicited numerous reactions on TikTok in the form of duets and stitches, the majority of people defending Gambino and believing the Karen should be charged. That day, TikToker^[2] @jtodasuk posted a video calling out the Karen, who appears to be Asian, in a video discouraging Asian people from "acting white," garnering over 7,800 views in under a day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[3] @magichourbaby posted a video wondering why the woman didn't just walk away if she felt threatened, garnering over 3,400 views in under 24 hours (shown below, right).

On the same day, TikToker^[4] @latruth posted a duet to the video, garnering over 30,000 views in under 24 hours (shown below). The video was also shared on Twitter^[5] the next day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References