A white woman who was deemed “Central Park Karen” after a video of her verbally accosting a Black man remains unrepentant more than three years after the headline-making altercation.
Amy Cooper was thrust into the public eye in May 2020 after getting into a heated exchange with Christian Cooper (no relation), a birdwatcher, while walking her dog in New York City’s Central Park.
In an essay for Newsweek published Tuesday, Amy Cooper said she “feared telling my own story” until now, noting the “unrelenting, unforgiving weight of cancel culture.” She also blamed Christian Cooper for instigating the incident and noted that her reaction was simply driven by “panic and vulnerability.”
“I was a female, alone in a secluded area of Central Park, with a man yelling at me and threatening me,” she wrote. “As a victim of sexual assault in my teens, I was completely panicked for my safety and wellbeing.”
As seen in Christian Cooper’s now-viral video, Amy Cooper called the police during the confrontation and accused the birdwatcher of threatening her and her dog.
In her essay, however, she says she dialed 911 only after Christian Cooper had “taunted me to call the police,” adding, “There were never any racial implications to my words. I just saw raw fear, and I desperately wanted help.”
Amy Cooper lost her job at the investment firm Franklin Templeton and was briefly required to return her dog to a rescue agency after Christian Cooper’s footage, in which she’s seen jerking her pet around by its collar, went viral on social media.
After apologizing in a public statement, she was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor for filing a false police report. The charge was later dropped.
Upon receiving Amy Cooper’s apology, Christian Cooper urged his supporters to “err on the side of compassion.” He was later hired by National Geographic as the host of the birdwatching series “Extraordinary Birder With Christian Cooper.”
On the flip side, Amy Cooper claims in her essay that she was “forced into hiding” and remains “scared to be in public” to this day.
Noting that she remains unable to find a job that meets her qualifications, she said she has reached out to Christian Cooper in hopes of conducting an “honest, productive conversation” but has not heard back.