During her show, television host Joy Reid accused Tesla chief executive Elon Musk of highjacking the term “Karen” from “black vernacular.”
In one segment of the show called “The Reid Out,” she took a shot at Musk, saying he is “opposed” to the Build Back Better Act and “wants to get rid of all government subsidies.” Reid also accused Musk of being “one of the most thin-skinned people on social media” after he got into a Twitter battle with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday.
Reid shared Warren’s tweet during the segment, which suggested “changing the tax code” so Musk would “stop freeloading off everyone else” and “actually pay taxes.”
Musk countered with, “Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.”
“Elon did what he always did and stomped his little feet and insulted Senator Warren,” Reid said. She characterized his treatment of Warren as “selfish and disrespectful,” claiming he “appropriated” the term “Karen” from “black vernacular for misogynistic purposes.”
Warren made her “freeloading” comment about Musk after Time Magazine naming him as their 2021 “Person of the Year.”
Reid asked Warren to be a guest on her show where she gave her the opportunity to respond to Musk’s comments.
“The part that makes me really angry about this is on behalf of every public school teacher, every waitress, every computer programmer, every street cleaner who actually paid taxes, that means they paid more than Elon Musk did in federal income taxes,” said Warren. “That’s just not right. It means the system is broken and I and many others are trying to fix that.”
Warren also claimed that Musk was able to gain his wealth because he was “subsidized by the federal government and every waitress and public school teacher who paid their taxes” saying he needed to “eat a big dish of that.”
The term “Karen” is an insult typically directed towards white women.
