Dr. Phil: Unfairly Labeled A "Karen" | How Cancel Culture Ruined Her Life | Dr. Phil Primetime

If someone could film you in public without your consent, my first guest, Lisa, was dubbed by many as the Karen of San Francisco after a video of her went viral. Is racist Lisa still CEO of this company? I get these almost every day, I know. where you live I got your apartment number you knew that guy who lived there now you're going to pay for it you're racist my identity my integrity my personality and my career were completely stolen from me because someone else decided who I was and what I was saying in June of 2020 I got a call from my niece saying something was going on with me on Twitter.

My initial thought was complete and utter confusion and then I realized it went viral, people saw the video and came to my house. with face coverings, baseball bats, and shotguns, they posted my home address and phone number. I get thousands of these, your family is dead, your head will look like we ran over it, blank, you, White Blank, my friends were attacked and my family was attacked. I knew this guy who lived there, now you're going to pay for it and I'm so happy my

life

stopped when I found out I ended up in the hospital, my whole system stopped working.

I just got this one, it's still racist Lisa. CEO of this company I get this almost every day. This experience took my entire

life

and I just threw it to the ground. I've been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. It's pretty devastating Lisa. I'm glad you're here. here and you've had a ton of media requests and you've turned down every media request before tonight, but you said yes to this, why here, why now I want my life back, it's been almost four years and I've been waiting for a change. I've been waiting for the truth to come out.

I was too scared like at the beginning, I was not in a position to say anything because my health was deeply affected and I was very afraid of the people I was afraid of. I dated for basically almost two years and he kept coming from everywhere. I don't understand why after four years people can't see the truth and I thought, "You know?", maybe this is a good time to tell what really happened because I want my life back and I want my career back I want my career back business I want my family back and I want my friends back and do you feel safe here?

Yes, tonight, why do I do it? They approached me in a very gentle way and were very reassuring me that this was going to be something that would not be another problem. It also takes a long time to feel comfortable in front of a camera again when your last experience was the one that changed the entire direction of your life. Yes, enter. In front of a camera again it's taking a risk and then you have to trust where you're going and who you're talking to and this eliminated a lot of things in your life, your health took a bad turn, it affected your career this really had a hugely negative and ongoing effect. in your life and you heard me say I'm not going to play the tape and I don't know if you expected me to play it or not, but I don't want to play it I don't want to exploit that I'm not interested in that I'm interested in you the actual event occurred on a Tuesday um it came out four days later so what happened was like you understand the weather In San Francisco at the time I did it, as you know, we were all in the middle of the early parts of Covid and I think a lot of people were very nervous, scared and unsure of what was going on and, um, this was that too.

An absolutely horrible situation had just happened with George Floyd, so in San Francisco in particular there was a lot of violence, there was a lot of smash and grabs, there was a lot of vandalism and they had signs everywhere saying if you see something, say something. and then I was on a walk with a friend and I approached a gentleman um and I only saw his back but he was doing some kind of artwork on a wall of my neighbor's house John's house and John is an older gentleman and He lived there forever and then I knew that the person behind the person was not John, so I approached this individual and I had my hands behind my back and I said, excuse me sir, forgive me sir, excuse me sir and With a lot of respect.

Of course, um and then he stood up and turned to me and then he went and took his phone and started doing something and then he did this with his phone in my face and I was like why is he taking a picture of me? That's weird. anyway, so we had a little conversation where he told me to call the police and I said no, why, because why would he call the police? This is my neighbor and this is ridiculous so we left and on Friday, 4 days later, in the early afternoon I got a call from two of my nephews and my niece saying something was going on, suddenly my phone wouldn't stop ringing. ring and every time I picked it up someone would say really horrible things, so then I stopped answering the phone.

Well, here's an example because this is a letter that was sent to your house. I will read it blank. I know where you live. I got your apartment number. I received your phone number. I received your email. My people are going to We're going to leave you blank, we're all going to go to your house and we're going to leave you blank, we're destroying your blank face with a big blank space that hurts, you better not go out, we're waiting there, so blank, Your mother, blank, your family is dead, your head is going to look. like we passed it blank, blank blank, all the blanks must be blank, they're all hoses.

I have a box of this, yes I've seen a lot of them, it's annoying to start getting them every five seconds, every five seconds, whenever possible. social media vehicle next door Better Business Bureau Twitter Facebook Instagram all those things thanks to you you know I have a business because I saw this at the time and I'll be very clear. I don't think you could have been more polite. you weren't accusatory you weren't threatening you were extremely polite I didn't see what he was writing I just don't know if you knew that when I walked up because I walked up behind him I didn't see that I could I've been writing, you know, I love Santa Claus, it didn't matter what he wrote , was the fact that he was doing something at the historical monument.

My neighbor's house, that was it. You are racist? You absolutely never have. those flaws are S no and if you ask anyone who has known me in my entire life, yes, absolutely, there is no evidence that you have ever had any overt racism because I'm not, you apologized, uh, I apologized many times Yes, I actually went. There the next day because I thought I had hurt his feelings and I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings, so I wrote a letter, a very heartfelt letter and I delivered it to him in person. He was in the other room doing a TV interview, so he didn't want to come talk to me and talk to me about my apology or my letter, so the press kept calling and they said we were going to the house.

Would you like to have something to say? He said I would please ask him to call me because he said he wanted an apology and I'm really trying. I would like to meet with him and talk about this because we are neighbors. I mean, this is ridiculous, this is ridiculous, I thought. The only way for him to keep apologizing is if I do it publicly then he won't be able to say that he didn't do it right, so I wrote that letter, but I was also being bombarded with death threats and everything. I thought, I mean, it's not like I had people around me telling me what to do or advising me, so I was flying solo, so to speak, and you're not now, I mean, you've gotten some advice on this and joining us Evan nman Evan is the founder and CEO of Red Banion, a public relations firm that specializes in high-stakes crisis management and has also worked closely with Lisa as a client and friend, so Evan I should have written the apology, not because I had. nothing to apologize for I have the same opinion I felt like why are you apologizing?

I didn't I couldn't figure out why he was apologizing if there was a misunderstanding it wasn't on his part and I think that apology What I used against him is that it is an absolutely fair statement and that is the problem with this life that we are living in a world of

cancel

culture

. It's a normal circumstance if someone does something and apologizes, the person accepts the apology and you move on, but in this world of

cancel

culture

, the moment you apologize, whether it merits an apology or not, all people who want to break you up take advantage of it and say, look, they're admitting that they did something terrible, they deserve everything they get, so unless you've actually done something that deserves an apology and there's someone specific who should get it you shouldn't.

Excuse me let me suggest an alternative narrative to this you live in a really nice neighborhood, I mean there are beautiful houses there and you're walking and someone I don't recognize him, he's mounted on the wall as a neighbor, you say, excuse me, what are you doing here? and a rational person could have turned around and said, I know what this looks like, but I actually live here. I rent a room in his house. and for 18 years, John has been my owner, so yes, I live here, my name is so-and-so, let me introduce myself. I would have said hi, I'm Lisa, I live there, it's nice to meet you, yes, you said hi.

I would have made a new friend and moved on. Yes, seriously, that's how life is supposed to work. I'll give you advice. At this point, you must take back your power. You have to reclaim your life and give yourself permission to move forward. You weren't wrong, one of the hardest things, Dr. Phil, is that, you know, I have a big family, I'm one of five and I really love my family and there are still a couple of my nephews who are afraid of me. I went from having a really happy, fun, really positive life with the Positive business to being kind of an outcast um and even like less than a year ago, I was trying to help a friend with her tires.

I went to the tire store and the guy looked at my thing and said oh I know who you are and I said oh yeah I've been coming here for 25 years that's what I thought he meant he said no and started doing this hand on the thing and Yelled that black lives matter until I ran out of the store, so it doesn't stop. Set your recorder for this and send it to your nephews. Send it to everyone else and find another tire store where they can kiss you. you were right here and I'm glad you came here and I hope you're glad you came here yeah I'm fine now thank you okay we contacted the man who recorded Lisa to get a statement but he refused to give one