A man took things too far while out on the slopes at one of Ontario’s most popular ski resorts. A viral video has emerged of the freak out session, showing the man having a classic “Karen” moment over being told to wear a mask.
While it is obviously stupid to have a mask requirement outdoors, and this man had every right to say no, he took things way too far. As every sane person has learned by now, the proper response to a private business telling you to put on a mask, whether it is indoors or outdoors, is to politely decline, explain you will never be returning to the establishment and why, then leave. But that is not what this Canadian “mask Karen” did.
The man, who was attempting to get onto a ski lift to go snowboarding with his family, claimed that he has a medical exemption to the Blue Mountain Resort’s mask mandate, which requires guests to wear masks in lift lines and on chairlifts. While medical exemptions are completely valid, his reaction to them denying it was not.
Footage of his freak out was shared to social media, showing him wrestling with security in front of his screaming children, who are clearly being traumatized by the encounter.
“Don’t touch me,” the man can be heard shouting as the struggle continues.
His wife can be seen in the background filming the freak out, instead of comforting her screaming children.
As the fight continues, a bystander rushes in to assist the security staff. Within seconds, more bystanders join surround the fight, and more security guards rush in to attempt to keep people clear of the disturbance.
The man was ultimately arrested.
He was apparently given numerous warnings prior to the altercation.
Tara Lovell, Public Relations Manager at Blue Mountain Resort, says that “after repeated refusal, he was given numerous opportunities to leave the lift line which were also refused and resulted in significant service interruption and crowding of guests waiting to load the chair.”
According to Lovell, there are no medical exemptions. She said that the resort “established a mask requirement for lift lines and on chairlifts with no exemptions. Validating medical exemptions at chairlifts is not something our teams are equipped to do. This requirement has been in place and applied consistently throughout the winter.”
WATCH:
A dad in Canada refuses to follow a ski resort's face mask policy to get on the lift pic.twitter.com/f11V3DdM1v
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) February 19, 2022
Social media is split on their opinion of the event, as usual. Half of the reactions say that this is not the hill to die on, especially in front of your children who are clearly being traumatized. The rest of the reactions say that an outdoor mask mandate is unnecessary and takes things too far.
Many social media users blame the security guards for the altercation, saying that they instigated most of the fight, especially since the man was attached to his snowboard and already off-balance.
The Bottom Line
Mask mandates are useless, especially outdoors, and we know it. If you don’t want to wear one, don’t wear one. If you want to protest the mask requirements at an establishment by not wearing one at the establishment, do it. But DON’T freak out and fight with staff or security who are just doing their jobs. They may be stupid, but they didn’t make the rule. ESPECIALLY, don’t get into a brawl with security in front of your children. That does not make you a hero for the cause, that makes you a bad parent.
