'San Diego Karen' Sues GoFundMe Campaign Creator Over Starbucks Barista Fundraiser
A wildly successful GoFundMe campaign has a 'Karen' looking for her cut.
Last summer we brought you the story of Amber Lynn Giles who tried to shame a Starbucks barista after he refused service to her because she wouldn't wear a mask. Her snotty Facebook post (now deleted) backfired in spectacular fashion after Matt Cowan set up a GoFundMe page, which went viral and racked up over $100,000. Now, almost a year later, she's filed a lawsuit against Cowan and his company, for defamation and invasion of privacy even though Giles campaign against the Starbucks employee was completely public. Self-inflicted assholery is my not so legalistic interpretation of the events. And because she's just a horrible human being, she wants some money.
Source: KCAL, Los Angeles
A woman has filed a lawsuit again the creator of a GoFundMe campaign that raised tens of thousands of dollars for a Starbucks barista in San Diego who went viral after asking her to mask up.
The controversy sparked last June when a barista named Lenin asked customer and plaintiff Amber Giles to wear a mask in the store, according to KGTV in San Diego. She refused and left.
Giles then posted a photo of the barista to Facebook which read, “Meet Lenen (sic) from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I’m not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption.”
The post was shared publicly hundreds of thousands of times, garnering many comments in support of Lenin, KGTV reports. It also prompted Matt Cowan of Irvine to create a GoFundMe for Lenin.
“I wanted to make a $10 tip donation,” Cowan told KGTV.
The GoFundMe was successful, raising more than $105,000 for him. However, the campaign is now the root of a lawsuit brought by Giles against Cowan and his company, according to KGTV.
Here's a report from last June.
And here's her snotty Facebook post that ended up costing her so much "pain and suffering," and making her a figure of ridicule for thousands of people who would later bombard her with comments, stating the obvious that she's just a horrible human being. All because she refused to wear a mask.
And her response as the hate poured in.
“I never threatened him.” Hear from woman who was denied service at a Clairemont Starbucks for refusing to wear a mask. She publically shamed the barista. A Go Fund Me Page on his behalf is now over $22,000. She says she’s getting death threats. #nbc7 & https://t.co/ylvk5rP6Vf pic.twitter.com/gCREw0LR5V
— Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) June 25, 2020
Go away, Amber. Go far, far away.