A T-shirt worn by a child became a point of contention between two mothers whose kids are in a playgroup together.
The offended mother, codenamed "Karen," disapproved of the phrase on the toddler's shirt to such a degree, she confronted the child's mother through a series of texts and threatened to ban him from their playgroup.
On the Reddit thread "r/EntitledB***h" – where users share experiences dealing with people who get their way and are entitled – a mother with the handle u/chickennuggetinbacon posted a series of screenshots of her exchange with Karen.
The 2-year-old's T-shirt said "Players Gonna Play" – an adult catchphrase implying that cheaters will never change. But on the school playground, it's an innocuous "play" on words.
But as far as "Karen" was concerned, the children in the playgroup were being contaminated with the shirt's morally destructive message.
Because, apparently, 2-year-olds can pick up on that and can grow up to be unfaithful. Wait, can 2 year-olds read?
Karen dipped her foot in the proverbial pool before erupting into a tsunami of rage.
She passive-aggressively informed the mother of the 2-year-old with the T-shirt that she was "umimpressed" with the shirt.
When the mother asked what was wrong with the shirt, Karen made a statement in the form of a concern.
"I mean.. It was just demeaning to boys don't you think?"
The mother had no idea what Karen was huffing on about, so Karen made more of a direct point, but kept with the protocol of making an inquiry.
You can almost hear her seething through her teeth.
"You didn't find his tshirt a bit rude?"
The mother responded:
"No, I didn't. It was a funny cute play on words t-shirt that meant nothing deeper than that."
Karen disagreed with an unintentionally hilarious typo and claimed the shirt was sexist for boys.
Confused as ever, the mom clarified if Karen had a daughter, and Karen responded affirmatively but said:
"It was offensive for her too!"
The mother demanded an explanation, and the storm clouds gathered.
Karen disclosed her point about the phrase's tone.
"It insinuates that boys can just use girls as playtoys and do whatever they want to them. Not the best message to send out to your boy or my girl!"
Mom wrote:
"You're actually crazy. It's a funny joke for adults."
Karen didn't see any humor in the statement and spoke on behalf of her daughter and said they both found the shirt rude.
Mom maintained her sense of humor and commented on Karen's toddler for her reading comprehension skills.
"Wow ___ I didn't even know ___ could read Y'know since she's only 2."
Karen then demanded that the child is banned from wearing that offensive shirt and dragged another mom into the ring.
"That isn't the point! He can't wear that shirt to group again! I'm sure the other moms will have an issue with this too! I know for a fact that ___ said she didn't like it either."
Turns out the "other mom" Karen mentioned was also a fan of the shirt and had asked where to purchase one for her kid.
Karen stuck to her agenda and threatened to disinvite the child from future play days if he wore the shirt again.
It was a cue for the chill mom to provide a bulleted list of how these play groups were going down, and that the rejection would be no big loss.
"Honestly I couldn't care less. You're very unhospitable hosts anyway, you're too stingy to eve let ___ drink some of your homogenized milk when we come over, you rarely let him or I snack and you hate to pay for things when we meet up outside."
"And you've let ___ pinch him before too because he wouldn't share, but you never cared if she didn't.
"I don't think this is s healthy relationship for him or for me."
She added a final suggestion to remedy Karen's rage:
"And just for the record, my son will wear whatever I want him to. Don't come to group if you're sooooo offended."
Karen was at a loss for words, well, except for one, and vowed to spread the word to all the other playgroup moms.
Users were amused by Karen's irrational rant.
"Oh no! Not the playgroup moms!! Anybody but them!! Oh the horror." – caoimhe_the_rogue
"Oooooooooo she's gonna run and tattle to allllllllllllllll the other moms on you!!!!!!!! -quakes in fear- whatever will you dooooooooooo???????!!!!!!!!" – dovakiinjewel
"Dude. T-shirt hell dot com. They have a baby section. Super offensive stuff. Watch her head explode when he wears the 'Daddy only wanted a bj' one." – ignorance-on-fire
"She's a nutso. Some children's clothing can be weird and kind of sexist but even that's only SOME. I'm sure your kid looked cute as a button in his shirt. She can get over herself." – valleylosersclub
"I mean, I can almost get saying 'hey, that offended me and here's why. Could you please not use that shirt for group?' While still crazy, it isn't quite my toddler learned to read and SHE. IS. TrIgGeReD." – WhyNotAshberg
"This is why I dropped the mom groups and just started taking my kids to the park to play with whoever the hell was there back when mine were little. Some of those moms are straight up crazy." – pbcookies321
Some users missed the double entendre of who the players were in context and thought it was a reference to gamers.
"The shirt says "players gonna play"? My first thought that it's about video games or something. It didn't occur to me that it's about "stringing girls along" until Karen said so. Which is dumb, your kids aren't at a dating age so being a "player" doesn't apply. Wth lol" – aonele
"Wait, the T-shirt only insinuates that players are going to play, my first thought was computer games, a 2 year old isn't going to know why other meaning." – Destrune
The phrase became popularized by 3LW with the 2001 song, "Playas Gon Play," written by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler.
It made a resurgence in 2014 with Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," which included the lyrics:
"Cos the players gonna play, play, play, play, play."
Hall and Butler accused Swift of ripping off the lyrics from "Playas Gon Play," but judge Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the case and commented that the phrase was too generic for copyright infringement.
Whether there's conflict within the music industry or in playgroups, haters are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate.
But just shake it off, folks.
As it turns out you CAN get the shirt here for gamers! Take that Karen.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images