The “Karens” of the internet are coming for Taryn Manning for her role in the new film Karen.
The actress told Mr. Warburton magazine some white woman said they were offended by the film’s content and personally “attacked” her.
“A lot of people aren’t taking it well but the point was to illuminate something that needs to be brought to the forefront so we can start to change humanity,” Manning said in a clip of a video interview obtained by Page Six.
“I was attacked a lot by white women who felt that I have betrayed you know, my own race,” she continued. “I think people need to tread really lightly around anybody – that you can’t just act that way.”
The Orange Is the New Black actress said she tried to take the social media critics “head on at first,” by responding to them individually and saying she was “sorry [they] felt that way” about the film.
But it seems that still didn’t silence some of the haters.
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Manning leads the cast of the BET original film as Karen Drexler, a representation of white women in society who call managers at stores and display racist behaviors toward people of color.
The character displays “white-entitled” behaviors when a Black couple moves in next door, including using her police officer brother to intimidate her new neighbors and plant suspicious evidence on them. However, the couple she is targeting won’t go down without a fight.
The film is directed by Coke Daniels (His, Hers & the Truth). Cory Hardrict (American Sniper) and Jasmine Burke (Saints & Sinners) both co-star with Manning.
Watch the trailer for Karen below, which was released in theaters this past Friday and is also streaming online.
