We’ve seen some pretty spectacular displays of people going full Karen over face mask wearing in America.

For some unknown reason, that probably has something to do with a misplaced understanding of civil liberties, people see not wearing a mask as an act of righteous defiance against an oppressive force.

The reality, as you well know, is that we have to wear them to protect ourselves and others from COVID-19. It’s not hard to wrap your head around that one.

If you’d like to binge-watch a series of videos of some extreme Karens in action, including one woman who appears to be a zombie from I Am Legend, head here. 

On to the story at hand, which at first glance appears to be another Karen in the wild, but there’s more at play here.

Here’s New York Post:

An Arizona woman, dubbed the latest “Karen” by social media, filmed herself destroying a face mask display inside a Target store over the weekend.

In the footage, Melissa Rein Lively, who runs a public relations company in Scottsdale, can be heard going on an explosive rant as she points the camera at a display of protective face coverings.

A second video shows the police in Lively’s house after her husband called them to initiate a welfare check.

You can watch both of those videos, one after the other, below. The Target mask meltdown is at the start, and the police intervention happens at the 59-second mark:

In another video, which has since been deleted from Instagram, she can be heard using the N-word during a rant after taking an Uber.

Where to start?

Most of what she’s yelling in both videos makes no sense. Why being a blonde lady in a $40 000 Rolex would have any impact on how staff at Target treat her for destroying a display is a mystery.

The police, who clearly adopt strategies for containing someone who is mentally unstable, weren’t getting involved because she’s Jewish.

She is not by any stretch of the imagination a spokesperson for the White House. The racial rants, accusations, and ramblings about the “deep state” – there’s actually too much to unpack here.

Her actions are out of keeping with her life before the meltdown.

Over to Heavy:

Lively’s LinkedIn page describes her as “founder, CEO at The Brand Consortium PR.”

Lively has run the firm for 11 years, saying it is, “Arizona’s #1 lifestyle and luxury public relations firm. We are a collective of public relations, buzz marketing, consulting and event design services specializing in hospitality, hotel & travel, real estate, retail, health & wellness and consumer brands.”

Before that, she was director of public relations and regional director at two other public relations firms. She was a PR account executive for another firm in Los Angeles. Lively is a graduate of Arizona State University and Cherry Creek High School. Her LinkedIn page lists volunteer experience for the American Heart Association, Make-A-Wish America and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

It seems likely that this kind of publicity is going to put an end to her PR firm.

Her husband, Jared Lively, has responded on Facebook to what seems to be an out of control situation that played out over some time. It’s a long read but worth it to put her actions in context:

While nothing she said or did can be excused, I hope she gets the help she needs.

This is clearly a person who is not well.

[source:heavy&nypost]