A Nebraska woman was caught on viral video deliberately coughing on a mother and child inside a grocery store — and now she’s lost her job over the on-camera stunt.
Janene Hoskovec, 54, dubbed “Anti-Mask Karen,” was fired by German software company SAP after it caught wind of the Sept. 3 incident inside a Super Saver store in Lincoln, Newsweek said.
The video, shot by the mom who was accosted by Hoskovec, was initially posted on Reddit — and quickly caught fire on other platforms.
It has now gotten more than 4 million views online, the outlet said.
The mom, who uses the screenname Jessabird on Reddit, said she was shopping when Hoskovec approached her and asked why she was wearing a mask.
“Then she went on about how she was born and raised here in Nebraska and it’s too bad that some Nebraskans have turned into sheep,” she wrote in the post.
“She asked if I’ve had a vaccine and said that my kid and I don’t need to wear masks because we look young and healthy,” she wrote. “There were several other people around wearing masks but for some reason she chose to pick on me and my kid.”
The video shows Hoskovec walking up to the mom and coughing on her and the child repeatedly, smiling and telling them, “Excuse me, I’m coming through.”
“Look at you, it’s so cute how scared you are!” she said.
When confronted by store employees, she claimed it was her allergies.
“I have my allergies and she got all freaked out,” Hoskovec said. “I don’t need to wear a mask … I’m not sick and neither are you.”
Her employer wasn’t impressed by the stunt and said it would look into it.
“The health and safety of our employees and the communities in which we live and work are of utmost concern to us,” SAP said on Twitter. “We are taking the matter of an SAP employee incident very seriously and investigating the situation.”
On Wednesday, the company tweeted that Hoskovec was out of a job.
“We have reviewed the incident and can confirm that the individual in question no longer works for SAP,” the post said.
