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Sheriff's Deputy Who Broke Down Over Egg McMuffin Says People Have 'Lost The Whole Point' Of Her Video
Countries around the world are in action together to address rampant and systemic racism and brutality by law enforcement, spurred onward by an ever-increasing list of deaths at the hands of officers.
Sheriff's Deputy Stacy Talbert "just wanted to share that I hurt, too"—so she shared a video of herself crying because she had to wait for an Egg McMuffin. The now-viral video earned her nicknames like "Officer Karen" and "Molly McMuffin."
Deputy Talbert—who says she has worked in law enforcement for 15 years but as a deputy in McIntosh County, Georgia near Savannah for just four months—recently spoke out again to tell the world that people lost the whole point of the video. She is tired of people being mean.
Some have claimed Talbert is not in law enforcement based on social media responses from McIntosh County, Oklahoma and the police department of Richmond Hill, Georgia. Neither are the departments Talbert identified and McIntosh County, Georgia appears to have no social media presence.
That has not gone well, either.
The video is just over three minutes long. In it she laments the long wait she faced picking up a mobile order from McDonald's. The order, she says, was for an egg McMuffin, a hash brown and coffee.
When an employee showed up with only the coffee, Deputy Talbert told them to disregard the rest of the order as by now she was just too nervous to eat something she couldn't see being made.
Deputy Talbert cried over this "incident."
Here is the video:
Her post did see many supporters in the comments, but once it moved beyond her friend's list and into the public domain it found a much colder reception. People were quick to criticize Deputy Talbert's "manufactured oppression."
Deputy Talbert went through the drive-through to pick up an order that she did not place in the drive-thru. Deputy Talbert specifies that she is doing so in order to avoid other people paying for her meal, establishing that she is often met with those sort of acts of kindness.
Deputy Talbert explains that her wait was long and an employee had to double check what she ordered. That employee then asked her to pull forward to wait while they went to check on it.
This has happened to almost all of us while picking up fast food. Fast food establishments are incredibly under-staffed right now given that we are in the middle of a global pandemic.
Many of us regularly have to wait for our orders.
In the video, Deputy Talbert mentions that she was too nervous to eat something she couldn't see being made—but she was talking about a mobile order placed at a McDonald's. Watching the food being made was never an option.
Deputy Talbert says, while crying:
"I had my window down and that's all she hands me is the coffee. So I told her, I said, 'Don't bother with the food because right now I'm too nervous to take it'."
"It doesn't matter how many hours I've been up, it doesn't matter what I've done for anyone. Right now, I'm too nervous to take a meal from McDonald's because I can't see it being made."
Again, seeing her meal being made likely never would have been an option at McDonald's.
It probably wouldn't have been an option even had she gone inside and ordered at the counter. McDonald's, unlike establishments like Benihana, typically does not make a show of preparing the food.
Deputy Talbert ended the video in tears, saying she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Despite saying earlier she does mobile orders so no one pays for her food anymore, she added:
"I don't hear 'thank you' enough anymore."
Supporters claimed that Deputy Talbert was purposefully mistreated because she is in law enforcement. Even Donald Trump Jr. shared her video as an admonition against those who are "ungrateful" for law enforcement and an example of the kinds of mistreatment they face.
Supporters launched a campaign of harassment against fast food workers.
Twitter ... well ...
I think the most important detail about Officer Karen not getting her Egg McMuffin is that Breonna Taylor was murdered in her home and no one has been charged. pic.twitter.com/RHligciyg9
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) June 17, 2020
I think we've figured out what's been wrong with the cops in this country. According to Stacey, they haven't been hearing, "Thank you," enough.
Officer Karen breaks down over the anxiety of ordering a McMuffin.
The disconnect with what's happening on the streets is astounding. pic.twitter.com/Snp0wztBq1
— Johnny Akzam (@JohnnyAkzam) June 17, 2020
Officer Karen crying about her McMuffin order is really about her making an outrageous insinuation that her food could be poisoned to generate sympathy and anger among white men who feel the need to help her. It's like the false accusations used against black men for generations.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 17, 2020
Fast food workers are good people trying to make ends meet. They're risking their lives during a pandemic to serve us and provide for their families. In this case, a worker may have felt bad the order was taking so long and ran out to give the officer her coffee while she waited.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 17, 2020
I can't imagine being the woman working for minimum wage at McDonalds who is now seeing a video go viral of an unstable and armed police officer--for whom she brought out a cup of coffee--accuse her of suspicion of tampering with a McMuffin. I would be terrified.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) June 17, 2020
the problem with the mcmuffin lady isn't that she's too sensitive, cry over whatever you want. it's that juries believe a police officer's fear is a justification for killing people, and police internalize that to the point they film themselves being scared of an egg mcmuffin
— dan solomon (@dansolomon) June 17, 2020
read over a few police reports and you will see the incredible amount of authority we give to police based on their insticts, which are framed as “experience and training," and sometimes their instincts tell them to be scared of an egg mcmuffin
— dan solomon (@dansolomon) June 17, 2020
A white police officer breaking down into aggrieved tears because a McDonald's employee was slow in getting her a McMuffin and posting the tantrum online, resulting in a harassment campaign of fast food workers by MAGA Twitter, is Trump's America in a nutshell.
— Dan Murphy (@bungdan) June 17, 2020
Deputy Talbert spoke up again, this time to NBC.
According to her, her video crying about McDonald's wasn't actually about McDonald's. She is now saying that she was in no way ever mistreated by the McDonald's workers.
In fact, she has been to that location more than 100 times and was always treated with kindness. Critics point to this as further evidence she knew she was never in any actual danger of anyone tampering with her food.
Talbert says she spoke with the owners and explained she was never mistreated by their staff. In fact, the reason she declined the food was because she was feeling suspicious lately.
The owners spoke to media outlets confirming Deputy Talbert was never denied service nor was she asked to wait any longer than average. Her declining the food was her choice and rooted in her mental distress, not anything the employees did.
Deputy Talbert agrees. However, she still stands by the video and by the caption she posted it with.
The caption read:
"Please share because no one should feel like this. Law enforcement or not, this is truly how we feel."
Now that the video has been shared and become a conservative talking point, Talbert is saying critics missed the point and are just mean. It was never about McDonald's according to Talbert.
The issue, she claims, was people just don't trust law enforcement. She makes the claim even though she admitted refusing the food was rooted in her suspicions, not in anything the McDonald's employees did.
Interestingly, Talbert seems to be fully cognizant of why people didn't take her video well.
Multiple black men have been found hung in trees recently (all ruled suicides, which experts agree is suspicious), people of color are being beaten and dying in law enforcement custody at an alarming rate, police have met anti-brutality protests with brutality—sometimes after officers have posed for "solidarity" photos with protesters.
Police departments in Georgia (where Deputy Talbert's McMuffin incident took place) are refusing to respond to calls unless they are for an officer down, essentially declining to serve the community and only serving other officers.
Still, Talbert thinks her McMeltdown was justified.
"It was completely selfish. Maybe that's insensitive. But if everyone else is saying what's going on with them. Why can't I? I just wanted to share that I hurt too."
Twitter, again, had some thoughts.
Nah, I think we got the point. She was demonstrating that she isn't mentally fit for the job of policing. A cop with that kind of anxiety, over a McMuffin?? is EXACTLY how unarmed black men get shot dead in the street. Imagine her confronting someone on duty with that anxiety?
— Ep (@eptronic) June 18, 2020
Exactly. This woman should find a position that fits her better. Being a cop is not for everyone.
— N.A.P. 🇩🇴 (@makip08) June 18, 2020
Karen in law enforcement, who is supposed to have sound judgment and courage, cried because she had to wait 3 minutes for her McMuffin & then became paranoid for no reason and was sad people don't thank her for not murdering them? They need to make that lil cop test harder.
— roxane gay (@rgay) June 17, 2020
#CopMcMuffin needs to go on a long vacay, because she shouldn't be out in the streets w/ a gun, a taser, a baton, nor a happy meal. pic.twitter.com/vqj0RpkH5B
— Darryl Wharton-Rigby (@whartonrigby) June 17, 2020
Over something that is so easily solved. There's people crying because there's lives being taken unlawfully and, in reverse we also have this 🤦🏾♀️ This world is crazy 😅
— YT: MidnightChocolat 🇨🇩 (@MidnightChocol8) June 19, 2020
Also, she's a police officer who probably had gone through psyche evaluation in order to get to her position. It is frankly alarming to see someone who is a protecter of the law react in such a manner over a McMuffin because it brings the question of how does she react to bigger
— YT: MidnightChocolat 🇨🇩 (@MidnightChocol8) June 19, 2020
Situations. She carries a gun for a living to protect people and, as we have seen countless of times some cops use this weapon on civilians to kill. So, if she can be this distressed over food then, it is very worrying she is in the profession she is in.
— YT: MidnightChocolat 🇨🇩 (@MidnightChocol8) June 19, 2020
And of course, she COMPLETELY missed the point; I've rarely seen such tone-deaf cluelessness. What Karen fails to recognize is that while she feels this only just now, there are millions who feel this way every day of their lives #BLMhttps://t.co/YPUn1k6gLy
— David J. Bouchard (@ArchonAmesha) June 19, 2020
@tkag2020_ann Officer McMuffin wants us all to feel her pain as she had to wait for her coffee and food, all while selfish black people are complaining about something so insignificant like their murdered loved ones. Your pain is SO MUCH WORSE. However do you cope McMuffin?
— We Know what Trump is but who are we? (@jojake111) June 18, 2020
No, we didn't. Officer Karen made it clear she hasn't paid for a meal in 15 years. She was upset that the NYPD were lying about cops being poisoned. She felt like a commoner waiting in line. She's clearly unfit.
— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@NotHoodlum) June 18, 2020
Maybe it's not the public that are missing the point.