A viral video shows a white Los Angeles woman blocking a Black Postmates driver from delivering food in her building. The man — named Jordan Gipson — shared the experience on Instagram.
“So a Karen stopped me from doing my job,” he wrote in a post on Wednesday (July 22).
The roughly five-minute clip begins with Gipson approaching the apartment complex building with his food delivery. The unidentified woman chastises Gipson for wearing a green face covering and asks, “Is this a hold-up or something? Just take it off.”
Gipson attempts to dial his customer’s apartment number near the building entrance so he can be buzzed in, but the woman stands in front of the door and blocks his entry.
“I have food I have to deliver, ma’am,” he tells the woman.
“Don’t deliver anything here. We don’t want you here,” she responds.
Gipson then gets through to his customer — identified as Paul — on the intercom, who informs the woman that he’s expecting a Postmates delivery. The woman begins questioning Paul about his room number and says she doesn’t believe he’s a resident.
“I live here asshole and I pay rent here,” she says to Paul before telling him to “get out of my building because you don’t live here.”
The woman then insists that Gipson is not making a food delivery.
“He doesn’t live here and he’s not a delivery boy,” she snaps. “He has no car, no bike, nothing. He’s not Domino’s. He’s not Pizza Hut. He didn’t get out of a Lyft; he didn’t get out of an Uber. He’s a Black guy walking around.”
Eventually, Paul comes down to the front door to retrieve the food from Gipson, since the woman won’t let him up.
Postmates has since responded to the incident in a statement, saying it is “completely appalled” by the video.
“Postmates denounces racism and is committed to the safety of everyone using our platform: couriers, businesses and customers,” the company told McClatchy News.
The food delivery service hasn’t said yet if it will investigate the incident. See Gipson’s video below.