A furious woman who unleashed on several influencers taking photos outside a Gold Coast property has been branded a "Karen" after footage of the verbal altercation was shared to TikTok.
In a video that has since amassed close to 100,000 views, content creator and former Love Island Australia star Tayla Mellington and her two friends explained how the stranger began "abusing" them as they posed for photos outside Mali, a residential building in Mermaid Beach.
"We were minding our own business… this chick comes up and starts abusing us," Mellington, 28, said in the footage, which was filmed in a car seemingly after the interaction.
"She's like, 'You're devaluing the property, we're going to call the police', and we just didn't say anything. And she's like, 'You really don't care, do you?' and I was like, 'No, not really'."
"She kept going," her friend Ruby Ennor, who also starred on the third season of Love Island Australia, pitched in. "She goes, 'Would you go and stand in front of someone else's house and take photos?' And we're like, 'Well, yeah'."
"She [said], 'You're invading their privacy' - I'm not going into their home. Out the front, on the footpath, is where we take photos," Mellington went on.
The conversation then became progressively nastier, the women claimed, with the stranger telling them to "get a real job" and insulting their appearance.
"Then she goes, 'You're not that attractive, if you were you'd get paid to do modelling'," Ennor added, with Mellington jumping in: "And then she puts the finger up [at us] - mind you, she has a baby [with her]... just abusing us. She walked off and put the finger up at us and we started filming her."
But the plot thickened when Mellington, who said she referred to the woman as a "bitch" after she had walked off, was confronted by another woman who was seemingly a resident of the building.
"She was like, 'What did you say about her?'... and I [explained] that she just told me I'm not pretty and not attractive. And she's like, 'Well, she shouldn't have said that, but we're sick of this'," she explained, noting that the second woman also reprimanded them for shooting content outside the residence.
In a follow-up video shared on Monday, Mellington revealed the footage they managed to capture at the end of the woman's tirade, which has since been viewed over 45,000 times.
In the clip, the woman - who was pushing a pram - can be heard saying: "If you [were] actually that attractive, you'd get a real job."
She added, "You'd get a real f**king job" before pulling the finger at the group and walking off as the girls laughed uncomfortably, clearly in shock.
The next woman then enters the conversation, but not much can be heard apart from tense voices. However, the footage does appear to show Mellington and the other influencers at the entry to the property, as opposed to on the footpath like they claimed.
The altercation has shocked and also divided viewers, with many expressing their outrage at the woman's "audacity" and "rudeness" while rushing to defend the group.
However, others have sided with her, agreeing that influencers shouldn't capture content that prominently features strangers' homes, with one commenting: "I'm on the Karen's side, find something better to do with your life besides taking selfies."
"Agree with her... get off the property," said another, with a third adding: "She does have a valid point. You just said a video prior that you were on the footpath? You're on property."
"Sorry, but it is really obnoxious. It's a pretty high-end apartment building and I don't think the residents really want people making noise," said a fifth, with another weighing in: "Why don't you take photos at your own place or is it not 'nice' enough?"
In her replies, Mellington reiterated that she also takes photos for her social media at her own home, but enjoys having "different backgrounds" in her content.
On the first clip, a few others shared their own similar experiences in the area, with one even claiming she'd been chastised by the very same woman.
"Gosh I know exactly who you're talking about, the same thing happened to me there shooting for a brand! Appalling coming from another woman and mother," she said, with a second writing: "Another girl at the same place had this happen and they caught it on camera!"
