Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls White House Press Secretary ‘Karen’ following insult at briefing

'The derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help,' Kayleigh McEnany says

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called Kayleigh McEnany “Karen” in response to an insult the Press Secretary made against her in a White House briefing.

At a press briefing on Thursday Ms McEnany branded Mayor Lightfoot “the derelict mayor of Chicago” when answering a question on police brutality.

“Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth,” Mayor Lightfoot tweeted in response.

“Karen” is a slang word that has come to represent an entitled white woman, who exploits their own privilege.

A source close to Mayor Lightfoot confirmed to The Chicago Sun-Times that she used “Karen” in that context.

The press secretary made the initial insult in response to a question surrounding the disproportionate number of deaths of black people at the hands of police in the US.

While answering the question, Ms McEnany shifted the focus of her answer to cite homicide as a serious cause of black mortality across the country.

“But one point [the president] wants to strongly make is this: that black men and women who die of homicide, they’re likely to die of homicide at eight times greater than that of white individuals and Hispanics combined,” she said.

She then went on to criticise Mayor Lightfoot for not requesting assistance from the federal government to control gun violence in the city.

“The derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets,” she added.

Chicago recorded 385 murders this year through to 12 July, police department statistics show, an increase of over 100 deaths compared with statistics from the same period in 2019.

The Chicago mayor has criticised the president on a number of issues in the last year including the coronavirus and police brutality.

In May, Mayor Lightfoot hit out at the president for his controversial tweets and statements surrounding the nationwide protests of the death of George Floyd.

“I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump... It’s two words. It begins with ‘f,’ and it ends with ‘you,’” Mayor Lightfoot said.

In March, she hit out at Mr Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to rage throughout the country four months on.

“Dear Lord — please step up and be a leader. While you have been yammering about hoaxes and fake news, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit all over America,” she said.