The Margin: This tearful video of a Georgia police officer accusing McDonald’s of withholding her Egg McMuffin order on purpose has gone viral

A Twitter user who calls herself “Ann” and identifies as a conservative Trump supporter in her profile posted the clip of an officer she says is named “Stacey” who sobs while recounting how the restaurant workers kept her waiting and withheld part of her breakfast order. Stacey suggests this was done on purpose as part of the growing backlash against officers and the calls for police reform in the weeks since Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were killed during their encounters with law enforcement.

“Stacey who has been a cop for 15 yrs went to @McDonalds,” Ann writes in her post. “She paid for it in advance and this is how she gets treated for being a cop.” MarketWatch reached out to Ann to verify the authenticity and origins of the video, but she did not respond by press time. But the local McDonald’s owner/operators confirmed the incident to MarketWatch.

Ann’s post had already been viewed 4.5 million times and retweeted more than 50,000 times by the time this story posted, renewing a heated online debate about the relationship between police officers and the communities they serve.

The clip, which runs just under two-and-a-half minutes, features Stacey explaining that she placed a mobile order for an Egg McMuffin meal. But her order wasn’t ready when she went to pick it up.

“And I’m waiting. And I’m waiting. And I’m waiting,” she says, noting that she was hungry because she had not eaten for a very long time. She was told to pull over to the side, and an employee eventually came over and gave her a coffee. But Stacey’s order was supposed to include an Egg McMuffin and a hash brown, as well.

“That’s all she hands me is the coffee,” Stacey says, breaking down into tears. “I said, ‘Don’t bother with the food because right now I’m too nervous to take it!’ It doesn’t matter how many hours I’ve been up. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done for anyone. Right now, I’m too nervous to take a meal from McDonald’s because I can’t see it being made!”

She pleaded with people watching the video to, “Please, just give us a break. I don’t know how much more I can take.” She added that she has never had such anxiety in all of her years of service, and asked people to say “thank you” when they see cops.

Here is the clip:

The original poster, Ann, also shared the phone number of that particular McDonald’s restaurant at the Love’s Travel Stop in Richmond Hill, Ga. “Come on America. We are better than this,” she wrote.

But many of the more than 21,000 comments beneath the video have taken a less supportive tone. In fact, some viewers claimed they were going to call the restaurant to demand raises for the workers who had to “deal with Officer Karen” instead.

Some pointed out that the woman had no idea what was going on inside the kitchen or restaurant while her order was being prepared. “She thinks fast food workers have time to delay her order intentionally as if they aren’t constantly being micromanaged, or that they can even keep track of who had a single egg McMuffin,” wrote one.

Another wrote, “My first job was at McDonald’s. The drink always comes out first. Breakfast sandwiches are made in batches, unless you asked for something special the person in the back is just making batches of them. Hashbrowns are fried in the deep fryer & batches have to be made.”

Local McDonald’s operator/owners Gary and Jill Stanberry told MarketWatch in an emailed statement that they have been in contact with the officer to apologize.

“Unfortunately, we were made aware of a local police officer who experienced a longer than usual wait time and did not receive her full order right away at one of our restaurants. We have been in contact with this officer to apologize for this unsatisfactory experience and let her know that we would love to correct the inaccurate order when she has time. We are happy to report that the officer was never denied service and also shared positive feedback on the employee with whom she interacted,” the owners told MarketWatch.

“Our priority is for all customers to feel welcome and enjoy a great customer experience in our family-owned restaurants, including local law enforcement officers who protect and serve our community,” they added.  “As a locally owned and operated business, we work hard every day to treat all of our employees and customers with dignity and respect.”

Other commentators highlighted the systemic injustices against people of color that have been highlighted and protested with renewed vigor in recent weeks. “Imagine the worst oppression you’ve ever felt is McDonald’s making you wait 10 minutes for a McMuffin,” wrote a user under the name Sarina.

Other critics questioned Stacey’s ability to serve as an officer if she is this upset about her food being delayed.

Still others just made fun of the clip, which led to terms such as “Officer Karen” and “McMuffin” trending on Twitter on Wednesday morning. “Karen” has become a slang term for the stereotype of an entitled, privilege white woman.

There were also Twitter users expressing love and support for law enforcement officers with hashtags like #BackTheBlue and #DefendThePolice, or floating the idea of a boycott against McDonald’s.

“Cops are losing their confidence with so much hate around. She’s exhausted and fear has crept in,” wrote one user under the name Jill Gooding. “We are in a very sad state of affairs.”

This video has gone viral just days after two New York Police Department Unions accused Manhattan Shake Shack SHAK, +1.91% employees of poisoning officers by mixing bleach into their milkshakes. But the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison later tweeted that there was “no criminality” involved, and in fact, the officers were inadvertently sickened as a result of the “faulty cleaning” of a machine.