‘Central Park Karen’ Bias Appeal Gets Chilly 2nd Cir. Reception

The Second Circuit seemed unlikely to revive “Central Park Karen” Amy Cooper’s defamation and race and gender discrimination lawsuit against her former employer Franklin Templeton, which fired her after a video of her calling the police on a Black birdwatcher went viral.

Judge Barrington D. Parker, just minutes into the hearing Friday morning at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, pressed Cooper’s counsel Matthew Litt on whether he’d ever seen the now infamous video.

Parker later said Cooper “Geared it up,” by mentioning the birdwatcher’s race in her 911 call about his alleged threats. “She pressed ...