It took less than a week for the internet to track down “Coughing Karen,” a woman seen in a recent viral video following and coughing on a mother and daughter in Lincoln, Nebraska. The woman, once identified, was reportedly let go from her job. Within days of the video going viral, internet sleuths had identified the woman as Janene Hoskovec, an Arizona native and employee of SAP, a software company based in Germany. She was first identified by TikToker @thatdaneshguy, who often makes headlines for his videos exposing people like anti-maskers and racists. Danesh posted a video to his account on September 7, exposing the woman as Hoskovec. He noted that he collaborated with another TikToker, @guilt, to track down Hoskovec’s information.
… In the original video, which occurred at a Super Saver grocery store on September 3, Hoskovec can be seen following a mother and daughter and deliberately coughing on them. She attributes her actions to “allergies” through a gleeful smile, and calls the others “sheep” for continuing to mask during a global pandemic.
See the video here.