Amy Cooper: Firm fires white NY woman after outrage over 'racist' encounter with black man in Central Park
A Central Park dog owner who went viral after being accused of launching a racist rant against an African American man no longer has her job, as confirmed by her former employer. The company, Franklin Templeton took to Twitter to share, "Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton."
Amy Cooper's video went viral after she called cops on a black man in Central Park after getting into an argument with him. The man, Christian Cooper, was heard asking Amy to put her dog on a leash while the two were in the park. According to the park's website, all pets are required to be kept on a leash inside. After being told to put her dog on a leash, she refused and threatened Christian in a video that garnered a lot of attention across social media.
In the video, she is heard saying, "I'm taking a picture and calling the cops. I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life." The video shows Amy on her phone. "There's a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet," she says. "He is recording me and threatening me and my dog." Meanwhile, her dog appears to be straining and trying to get free while she tries to restrain it instead of leashing it. Her appalling behavior was slammed on social media with many demanding that she be fired from her job.
Amy had initially been placed on administrative leave after the incident blew up online but now that the company has spoken, social media users were very pleased with the decision and praised the mutual funds firm for doing so. One such user shared, "Good call. Her tone in making that threat to lie about being threatened. Her emphasis on race. Her fake panic yelling on the phone with police. She knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted to see that black man executed by the police for daring to tell her to leash her dog."
Click for the video here.
Another user shared, "Agreed. It's important to stand by your policy of zero tolerance for racism. Well done," while a third commented, "This was the right thing to do. Think of all the people who are employees or customers of Franklin Templeton who would feel uncomfortable dealing with someone who showed such obvious racist tendencies. There are consequences for actions and racists need to start to learn this."
On social media, Amy is being referred to as "Karen" which is the social media shorthand for white women who call the cops on black people over ridiculous and harmless incidents. Mayor Bill de Blasio was also unwilling to forgive Amy. “The video out of Central Park is racism, plain and simple,” he said on Twitter. “She called the police because he was a black man. Even though she was the one breaking the rules, she decided he was the criminal and we know why. This kind of hatred has no place in our city.”
Amy spoke to CNN and issued an apology. "I'm not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way," she shared adding that she also meant no harm to the African American community. "I think I was just scared," she shared. "When you’re alone in the Rumble, you don't know what’s happening. It’s not excusable, it’s not defensible." She also said that her "entire life is being destroyed right now."