A video recorded at a Home Depot store in Miami went viral after showing an American customer confronting a Cuban employee for not speaking English fluently.
In the images, the woman, identified by users as a "Karen," shouts: "If you don't speak English, you should be fired!", while gesturing with her hands and following the worker through the aisles of the establishment.
The incident, which occurred in one of the cities with the largest Hispanic population in the United States, sparked a wave of reactions on the Instagram account of lifestyle_miami.
While some defended the client, arguing that those who work in customer-facing roles should be proficient in English, others pointed out that Miami is a de facto bilingual city, where Spanish is spoken as much or more than English.
"Does she know she lives in Miami?" commented a user. Another pointed out, "The United States has no official language and was built by immigrants." In contrast, several voices agreed with the customer: "If you work in customer service, you must speak English," wrote an internet user.
The harshest critiques labeled the attitude as racist and humiliating. “This is disgusting behavior; she should be banned from Home Depot,” expressed another person. Ironic comments also multiplied, dubbing her “Grandma Karen” or comparing her to a video game character.
"Karen" is a term popularized in the United States to describe individuals—typically middle-aged or older white women—who engage in scenes of intolerance, racist attitudes, or authoritarian behavior in public spaces.
The term, which has already become a cultural meme, aims to ridicule those who behave contemptuously towards minorities or service workers, as happened in this case in Miami.
The episode reignites the debate over the use of language in the United States, and particularly in Miami, where more than 70% of residents are Spanish speakers. Although English is the predominant language in the country, there is no federal law declaring it as official.
Home Depot has not made any public statements regarding the incident, but the video continues to rack up thousands of views and fuels a debate that reflects the cultural tensions in South Florida.
Other cases of xenophobia among Latin communities in the U.S.
The incident reported at Home Depot is not an isolated event. In recent months, various episodes have highlighted tensions marked by xenophobia and discrimination in the United States, particularly within the Latino community itself.
In February, a Cuban resident in the country reported via TikTok that many Latino migrants who already have legal status act in a discriminatory manner towards those who are still going through immigration processes. In her message, she criticized the tendency to forget "where they came from" and to perpetuate attitudes of rejection towards other newly arrived Hispanics.
In the same vein, another Cuban, identified as Roy, publicly expressed his embarrassment regarding the behavior of some compatriots who insult other Latinos with derogatory terms like "Indians".
His reflection aimed to draw attention to internal racism and the lack of solidarity among communities that share similar origins and challenges in the United States.
A particularly controversial case occurred last December when Venezuelan actress Norkys Batista reported that she was expelled along with her family from a store in Hialeah run by a Cuban simply for being Venezuelan.
The incident sparked outrage on social media and prompted a debate about discrimination among migrant communities in Miami, a city where cultural diversity coexists with episodes of exclusion.
These background facts reflect that xenophobic attacks do not solely come from predominantly English-speaking sectors, but also arise within the Hispanic community itself, highlighting the contradictions and tensions that permeate the social fabric in South Florida.
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