Maskless Starbucks 'Karen' wants half of $100K raised for barista who wouldn't serve her

Lenin Gutierrez, a Starbucks barista who refused to serve a maskless customer. Photo / GoFundMe

A California "Karen" believes she is entitled to half of the US$100,000 donated to a Starbucks barista in San Diego who refused to serve her because she wasn't wearing a mask.

In June, Amber Lynn Gilles shared a photo of the barista, Lenin Gutierrez, on Facebook and accused him of discrimination as he denied her service for not following the county's coronavirus guidelines.

"Meet lenen from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption," she wrote in the now-deleted post.

However, her complaint backfired when people felt sorry for the barista and set up a GoFundMe page for him.

The page ended up generating more than US$100,000 in "tips".

Now Gilles has come out saying she wants half the money and plans to sue the man to get it.

"It was discrimination and everybody is okay with it and enabling and rewarding that behaviour," Gilles told KGTV.

"I get shortness of breath, dizziness and it messes with the heartbeat," she told the station. "And I do have asthma as well, and I do get mask-acne. So there's several things going on and not only that but it doesn't even work."

Gilles brought two documents to the outlet to prove her exemption. One document was a pelvic exam from 2015, reporting a "probable exophytic fibroid arising from the anterior wall of the uterus measuring 2.9 cm size", and "simple 2.5 cm left ovarian cyst".

Amber Lynn Gilles shared a photo of the barista, Lenin Gutierrez, on Facebook and accused him of discrimination as he denied her service for not wearing a mask. Photo / Facebook

A second was a handwritten note on letterhead from a local chiropractor, reading: "Amber has underlying breath conditions that prevent her from wearing a mask or any type of facial covering whatsoever. Please contact me if have any questions."

The woman has started her own GoFundMe page to raise money for a lawyer to try to get the money and said she doesn't feel remorseful about the post.

"I feel like I need the apology," she told KGTV. "I've been discriminated against, I'm the one who's sick."