Wearing a mask saves lives. The CDC has said it, the WHO has said it, and even President Trump came around to saying it. Eventually. But nevertheless, countless people have gone viral online because they refused to wear a mask — and had a public freak out over it. Below is a list of videos or stories featuring some of the top public freakouts from mask naysayers of the pandemic.
WARNING: Typical of these mask freakout videos, explicit language is present in the following clips.
Anti-Masker Attacks Starbucks Barista in Viral Video
This week, a video that showed a woman screaming about mask mandates and Black Lives Matter in a Starbucks went viral on Twitter. In the video, a customer can be seen at the counter with a mask pulled down below her chin. The recording begins when the woman is mid-sentence, speaking to 19-year-old barista Alex Beckom.
“When you talk to me like that, I know it’s because you’re discriminating against me because I’m a Trump supporter,” the customer says. “F— Black Lives Matter. I need a straw.”
Beckom hands her a straw. The customer asks for sugar, which Beckom gets for her as well. As Beckom hands the customer the sugar, she says, “The next time you come in, I need you to keep a mask on.”
Then, the customer raises her voice, saying it’s not the law and it’s a hoax. She yells, “This is America. I don’t have to do what you say! Trump 2020!”
The woman begins to walk out of the store after Beckom asks her to leave, but not before shouting, “F— Black Lives Matter!”
The women working at Starbucks asked the lady In blue very nicely to keep her mask on as she was serving her. Lady in the blue got very angry and started screaming “Fuck Black Lives Matter” pic.twitter.com/550VWurhq1
— John David Glaude (@obese_to_beast) October 18, 2020
“Even the president got [COVID-19], so I don’t understand how now it’s something that’s turned into such a them or me situation when it should be everyone coming together to make sure we all don’t get sick or get hurt,” Beckom told NBC News.
But that’s only the tip of the crazy…
Mask Freakout Videos Go Viral
A group of anti-maskers took it upon themselves to storm down the aisles of a Target in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They blasted music, including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” as they urged fellow shoppers to disregard face mask mandates.
The stunt went viral on Twitter, leading authorities to identify multiple participants. Broward County officials mailed those identified $100 citations for violating the county’s mask law.
Anti-maskers in Florida invade a Target pic.twitter.com/Z8TWbl8ihD
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) September 16, 2020
Elsewhere in Florida, one man became an overnight meme for losing it in a Costco after he was asked to put on a mask. He raged in the store, screaming “I feel threatened!” His anti-mask behavior landed him in hot waters as the video caused him to be fired from his job.
Florida man at Fort Myers Costco in “Running the World Since 1776” shirt flips out on elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask and man who defended her #BecauseFlorida (via @profjaffar) pic.twitter.com/PDOvi33qHK
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 7, 2020
In Arizona, one woman filmed herself taking her pandemic rage out on a Target mask display. In a shocking update to the meltdown, the woman was also arrested — and the entire ordeal was documented live on Instagram.
Continued…
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 5, 2020
Police came to her house and she was arrested on IG Live saying she is a spokesperson for QAnon & the White House and wanted the police to “call Donald Trump and ask him” because she can’t share any “classified information.”
We’re doomed…pic.twitter.com/Vy4Qhmh9nX
Grocery Stores & More
One woman at a California Trader Joe’s also refused to wear a mask, claiming she was exempt due to a medical condition. When she was approached and told to wear a mask, her tirade to fellow shoppers and employees was filmed and soon went viral.
The grocery shopping freakouts don’t end there, however. In Texas, one woman became enraged after a manager asked her to put on a mask when she came to the register with a full cart of groceries. While holding a mask in her own hand, she began yelling and throwing items out of her cart and onto the floor.
This one’s not a public meltdown, but quite a unique approach to displaying an anti-mask stance. Internet users rallied behind the “Burn Your Mask” challenge to protest mandatory mask orders. It involved people paying money for their own masks only to burn them for videos
If you think those are good, on the next page are pandemic rages of all sorts…
Pandemic Rage Unleashed
Extended lockdowns and stalled reopenings are hitting people in different ways. Just like individuals having meltdowns over masks, others are channeling their pandemic rage by lashing out at others in public. Rather than exchanging insults in a heated argument, individuals are intentionally coughing on others. In the middle of a pandemic, it’s seen as a crime.
One Florida woman was documented coughing on a cancer patient who began recording her as she was arguing with store employees. Heather Reed Sprague, who was coughed on, stated that she never engaged with the upset woman. When Sprague was caught recording, the irate woman proceeded to turn her anger on Sprague — a cancer patient — and coughed on her before leaving the store. Eventually, she was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault.
In a just as shocking incident, one California woman was caught on a surveillance camera coughing in a baby’s face. The 1-year-old boy and his mother were waiting in line at Yogurtland when the woman confronted them about social distancing. According to the mother, the incident was fast — the woman approached them, pulled down her mask, and coughed at the baby three times.
In a recent update, the woman who coughed on the baby was identified and caught. See what happened to her here.
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Mask Freakout Videos — Sources
Fox13: Anti-mask protesters fined after marching through Florida Target
NBC NEWS