A white woman who was captured in a viral video spewing angry anti-immigrant, anti-Spanish bile in a Philadelphia-area pizzeria has been charged with ethnic intimidation and harassment.
A video, originally uploaded to TikTok by @kellyflores765, received millions of views online after being reshared by multiple users.
In the clip, a white woman, identified by local authorities on Friday as Rita Bellew, stands at the counter at Amy’s Pizzeria speaking with Omar Quiñonez, one of the owners, after apparently being triggered by a TV playing a show in Spanish.
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“You wanna have Spanish on your TV?” she says, after detailing her family’s alleged history in America. “You’re not American, dude. I will look you the fuck up and get you the fuck out of our town.”
Then, she demands a refund instead of taking her food.
“I’m not giving my money to some illegal immigrant,” Bellew says disgustingly. “You’re in America. You’re supposed to learn English.”
Bellew claims that having Spanish on the television is an insult to America before saying that her father was a World War II veteran and bashing Quiñonez for supposedly lacking respect and being an “ignoramus.”
Bellew tells Quiñonez that she’s going to check the change he gives back to her, implying that she didn’t trust him. Then, she gets into an argument with the woman filming the incident, despite telling Quiñonez that she could have him deported.
“This is our first Karen!” the woman filming shouts to other employees and customers.
On Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner said they had charged Bellew, 55, for the Feb. 23 disturbance. In a press release, police said they were called to de-escalate the ordeal that involved a “profane, racially fueled tirade.”
Quiñonez and his wife and shop co-owner Kelyn Flores, who are Latino, told WHYY Philadelphia that business has only increased since the incident with Bellew went viral.
During a Hatboro council meeting Feb. 27, Hatboro Mayor Tim Schultz said “hate has no place” in his town, according to Patch.
“As Mayor, representing the Borough of Hatboro, I am proud to live and work in a place where inclusivity is a top priority to its leadership,” he said.
Bellew did not immediately return The Daily Beast’s request for comment Friday.
