NBA fan goes viral 22 years on after appearance in The Last Dance

Diehard Indiana Pacers fan Kathy Harrison. Photo / Netflix

Her name is Kathy, not Karen.

Diehard Indiana Pacers fan Kathy Harrison became a viral meme after she was featured hurtling abuse at the Chicago Bulls during the penultimate episode of the Michael Jordan documentary which aired this week.

Harrison, who has now been a Pacers season ticketholder for 44 years, was pictured standing and screaming "God damn you!" at Jordan's Bulls during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals, which Chicago won in seven games.

Twitter users quickly agreed she was the perfect embodiment of "Karen", a slang term for an irritable middle-aged white woman.

the OG Karen pic.twitter.com/c7w2cAYdFo

— Jim Hill (@HamptonsfiveSZN) May 18, 2020

"I want to speak to your manager" Karen Indiana Pacers fan pic.twitter.com/I369yCKeji

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 18, 2020

Harrison, who recalled signing a waiver agreeing to the release of any footage that captured her during the game, is taking her new-found stardom in stride.

She's done several media interviews in the past 24 hours, revealing it was her "mission" to attempt to unsettle opposition players, especially Jordan and wild teammate Dennis Rodman.

"Michael was totally cool. He'd look back at me and shake his head. But the biggest thing I had going on was with Rodman. Dennis Rodman and I battled back and forth," she told ESPN radio.

"We'd just try to get into their heads. Disrupt their game," added Harrison to the Indy Star. "That was our job. That was our mission.

"And (Dennis) would turn around. He'd go, 'Oh, that diamond ring you have on your hand is fake. That's fake.' And I'd go, 'OK, Dennis'.

"You can't do it today, because they'll arrest you, but back then, it was OK to be feisty and yell at the players and the players would yell back at you. It was just a lot of fun.

"I do miss those days, but I'm older now and I just sit quietly in my seat."

Harrison joins mullet-wearing security guard John Wozniak and Carmen Electra on the list of unexpected breakout stars from The Last Dance. You can watch all 10 episodes on Netflix.