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Rand Paul tells Tucker Carlson about 'Karen' reporting him for going maskless, Internet says he's 'male version'

The ophthalmologist-turned-politician told Tucker Carlon, 'I was on the treadmill the other day, and some Karen goes and tells the people, ‘He’s on a treadmill. He’s running without a mask’."

Senator Rand Paul appearing on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show spoke about his experience with a woman who reported him for not wearing a mask. The ophthalmologist-turned politician has, on several occasions, made anti-mask comments. He recently argued with Dr Anthony Fauci for his recommended guidelines about masks being essential while the pandemic rages on.

"You're telling everybody to wear a mask, whether they've had an infection or a vaccine," Paul said to Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "If people that have had the vaccine or have had the infection... if we're not spreading the infection, isn't it just theater?"

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On Carlson’s show, he said: “I was on the treadmill the other day, and some Karen goes and tells the people, ‘He’s on a treadmill. He’s running without a mask’. I mean for goodness’ sake, is this the world we live in? Where everybody is reporting everyone and the Gestapo is going to come in and arrest you?”

For the uninitiated, Know Your Meme, the Wikipedia of memes, defines Karen as “an irritating, entitled woman, sometimes as an ex-wife who took custody of ‘the kids’.” Basically, it’s a name given to any woman who comes from privilege, displays undue entitlement, and annoys people with her antics. It falls in the same genre of memetic names like “Chad” that describes attractive, popular men who are sexually successful with women.

A Vox explainer notes that the stereotype associated with the name Karen “is limited mainly to white women in their mid-30s or 40s. The archetypal ‘Karen’ is blonde, has multiple young kids, and is usually an anti-vaxxer”. 

Paul’s use of the term “Karen” has led to some criticism online. “I am begging fellow white men, stop appropriating the term ‘Karen’ to mean ‘any woman who annoys you’,” wrote a Twitter user. But many more pointed to Paul’s own entitled 'Karen' behavior for not wearing a mask in a gym. 

“Interesting choice of words... Because, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Rand Paul like the male version of a ‘Karen’? He's as clueless about this than he is about...well... pretty much everything,” wrote a Twitter user. Another said, “Does Rand Paul know that he’s been the Karen this whole time.”

One person tweeted, "Sounds like @RandPaul doesn't understand that he's the Karen in all of this. Can't fix stupid," while another remarked: "LOL I mean is there even a bigger Karen than Rand Paul". One tweet gave him with a new title -- "King of the Karens"   

Fauci told ‘CBS This Morning’ on Friday, March 19, that Paul is "dead wrong." Fauci argued that Americans should continue to wear masks even after they are vaccinated against Covid-19. "Senator Paul has this message that we don't need masks, which goes against just about everything we know about how to prevent spread of the virus," Fauci said. "He was saying if you've been infected, or you've been vaccinated, don't wear a mask -- which is completely against all public health tenets. So he's dead wrong. I mean, I don't have anything personally against him. But he's just quite frankly incorrect."