NBC Philadelphia
The dad at the center of the Phillies Karen situation wants fans to leave her alone. Last week, a woman went viral after berating a man at the Marlins-Phillies game for picking up a home run ball during a scrum near her to give to his son.
The video has been viewed millions of times on social media, and the woman has been dubbed “Phillies Karen.”
The father in the video has spoken about why he decided to give the woman the ball.
“We were there to get a home run ball, so I thought I had accomplished this great thing, and putting it in his glove meant a lot. She was just so adamant, loud, yelling, persistent. Didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Hundreds of people just staring, like I said. She was very close, and as dad of the family, so I didn’t want to do something that I regret, and that was the choice I made, is just hand the ball back, tell her go.”
The father also wants fans to stop trying to track down the woman to ruin her life.
“Please don’t do anything to that lady,’’ he told USA TODAY Sports. “Leave it alone. You know, somebody knows her and can talk to her, that’s different. But God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good.’’
There have been rumors that the woman is a teacher and was fired, but those rumors have since been debunked by Snopes.