Father Involved in Phillies ‘Karen’ Incident Apologizes to Son Lincoln as School Clears Stance Over Her Firing

When you bring up the Philadelphia Phillies right now, forget the box scores—everyone’s first question is about the viral ‘Phillies Karen. It all unfolded on September 5 at Loan Depot Park in Miami when the Phillies’ Harrison Bader crushed a home run. Instead of claps, shock was plastered on people’s faces because a woman had argued with a man and his son, whose birthday it was, about the home run ball, and then she took it away!

The boy whose birthday it was is called Lincoln, a nine-year-old. His dad, Drew Feltwell, had snagged the ball in the stands and given it to him. Such a core memory right? But the woman in the Phillies t-shirt who tried to snag the ball earlier but couldn’t, came over to their seats. And Feltwell later told NBC10 that she came out of nowhere and in 10-15 seconds tops. Then, she screamed, “That’s my ball!” making Feltwell jump. He added, “She was in my face, yelling. I was literally leaning back. I just wanted her to go away…” But the Karen insisted that it was from her seat and would not give up.

So later, with all eyes on them, Feltwell had to make a call, whether to keep creating a scene or show his son how to de-escalate a situation, and he did the latter. He also just apologized to Lincoln for giving the ball away, saying, “I decided to give her the ball. I apologized to you, but it was the right thing. We just wanted her to go away. And it worked out—you got a bat!” But Lincoln, for sure, was not thrilled.

Lincoln, however, did get a signed bat from Bader itself, so that was a bonus. But he didn’t like it in the first place that his ball was snatched. He mentioned, “I wasn’t very happy that we had to give it to her, but we can’t win. She was going to get it anyway.” But if you think the drama is done and dusted, think again.

Because the drama took an interesting turn. Now the internet sleuths are pointing fingers, and they are claiming that Karen was a woman named Cheryl Richardson Wagner. The online detectives also went about saying that the Karen has now been fired from the Hammonton Public School in New Jersey. However, the district came out with a statement saying, “The woman identified on social media as ‘Phillies Karen’ is not, and has never been, an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools. Social media and news reports indicating that she is are incorrect. Anyone from our community would have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation.”

Well, it remains to be seen if this really is the identity of the Karen or if the internet has just found another scapegoat, or if she indeed is simply hiding in plain sight.

“Phillies Karen” becomes the internet’s new Halloween costume

The saga of Philadelphia Phillies Karen just keeps getting wilder every passing turn. First, the clip of her trying to snatch the ball from a father and son, and now she is also crossing into some rock and roll drama and, well, even Halloween! Well, so Pittsburgh rock band Post Traumatic had, for a short time, added fuel to the fire.

They claimed on Facebook that their guitarist Joe Pribesh, had given a signed setlist and pick to a boy in a wheelchair. But one woman on one of their shirts snatched them away while shouting. Their bassist apparently tried to defuse the situation, but according to their post, she went off and thrashed their merch table and caused like $20 in damage. The band joked about settling things with the fan later, but when this Phillies Karen video went viral, they connected the dots. They called her “a maniac who needs to be stopped.”

The problem is that the post was quickly deleted, and so whether it is authentic or just another claim is up in the air. Meanwhile, even Cheryl Richardson Wagner, who the internet thinks is the Karen, denied it’s her. She posted on her Facebook that, “I’m NOT the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast)… and I’m a Red Sox fan.” 

Well, the internet has just gone off, and in a true viral moment, mock-ups of Phillies Karen Halloween costumes have started making the rounds. Hoodie, jeans, white wig, and oversized glasses! Fans are even asking for a built-in boo soundtrack!

The post Father Involved in Phillies ‘Karen’ Incident Apologizes to Son Lincoln as School Clears Stance Over Her Firing appeared first on EssentiallySports.