When Starbucks employee Lenin Gutiérrez confronted a customer who was refusing to wear a mask, he garnered an avalanche of support from sympathetic outsiders. One of those strangers started a GoFundMe for Gutiérrez who has accumulated more than $ 100,000 in virtual tips for the barista
Now Amber Lynn Gilles, the client who refused to wear a mask and posted on social media about Gutiérrez, says she wants half the money Guitiérrez earned when the story went viral.
Amber Lynn Gilles, a self-described activist and yoga instructor in San Diego, posted a photo of Gutierrez on Facebook earlier this month saying that “he refused to serve me because I am not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for the police and bring a medical exemption. “
The post, which has since been removed, received a backlash and was labeled “Karen,” a name used to describe white women who act lawfully in public. Gilles now believes Gutierrez is being rewarded for the incident and says he wants half the money.
“It was discrimination and everyone agrees with that and allowed and rewarded that behavior,” Gilles said in an interview with KGTV, a local ABC affiliate, on Tuesday.
Gilles told the station that he is going to sue for half of Gutiérrez’s GoFundMe money. He also said that he has spoken to lawyers, but that they are all expensive, so he started a GoFundMe in an effort to raise money, according to KGTV.
Gilles said symptoms that prevent him from wearing a mask include shortness of breath, dizziness and “messes with the heartbeat.”
“And I also have asthma … and I have mask acne,” he added. “So various things are happening and not only that, it doesn’t even work.”
Gilles had refused to wear a mask despite the Starbucks and county public health mandate to wear it.
The CDC recommends that people cover their faces in public when social estrangement is difficult to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Gilles did not immediately respond to a CBS News request for an interview.
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