The father who was screamed at by the infamous ‘Phillies Karen’ has pleaded with online sleuths to stop their efforts to uncover her identity.
Social media investigators have been desperately trying to unearth more details about the woman who berated Drew Feltwell into giving her a ball he retrieved for his 10-year-old son Lincoln, who was celebrating his birthday.
Two women have already been forced to deny they are the ‘Phillies Karen’ in the days since the incident at the MLB game between the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies that has gone viral.
Now Feltwell has told sleuths to stop trying to uncover the woman’s identity after some claimed they would go to extreme measures to retrieve the ball from her.
‘Please don’t do anything to that lady,’ he told USA Today. ‘Leave it alone. You know, somebody knows her and can talk to her, that’s different.
‘But God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good.
The father berated by the infamous ‘Phillies Karen’ has told online sleuths to stop their hunt
The Phillies fan went viral after screaming in the face of Feltwell after he beat her to a HR ball
‘I could say something like she got what she deserved, but I don’t know if she deserved that much.’
On Friday night, the ‘Phillies Karen’ bullied Feltwell and his young son into giving her a home run ball – before the entire incident went viral on social media.
Quick-thinking fans caught the interaction on camera.
‘That was ours,’ the belligerent woman yelled at the man – before the dad handed over the ball he had picked up.
She was defiant in the face of booing from the fans around her, even being caught on camera flipping the bird at one stage.
But, despite so much footage showing her, she is yet to be identified.
Multiple women have since come forward and denied that they are the ‘Phillies Karen’, after internet sleuths thought they’d discovered her identity.
Meanwhile, Lincoln has spoken of his devastation at being forced to give his ball back to the woman.
He told NBC 10 Philadelphia: ‘I wasn’t very happy that we had to give it to her, but we can’t win. She was going to get it anyways.’
Lincoln’s father, Drew Feltwell, said that he simply wanted the ‘Phillies Karen’ to ‘go away’
Lincoln later got to meet Harrison Bader – the Phillies player who hit the home run that sparked the exchange – after the game and the MLB star gave him a bat to make up for the lost ball.
‘I’m happy I got to get something else. It was very, very fun getting to meet Bader,’ he added.
Feltwell said that he simply wanted the woman to ‘go away’ as he tried to be a role model for his son. As for the backlash, he said he doesn’t want her life to be ‘ruined’ by the incident.
‘She brought that on herself,’ Drew said. ‘I don’t want her life ruined but she brought that on.
‘She’s going to pay for that and it is not by hand. I don’t wish any harm on her. Maybe she was in the moment. I’m not going to defend her.’
As for what was going through his head during the confrontation, he explained: ‘Just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son, I guess,’ he told the network.
Feltwell, who attended the game with his wife, son and daughter, added he was ‘still in disbelief’ at the woman’s actions and that he apologized to his son for handing the ball over.
The Hammonton Public Schools even joked someone associated with them ‘would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation.’
A woman called Cheryl Richardson-Wagner has had to deny she was the person in the video
‘I thought I had accomplished this great thing,’ Feltwell said. ‘But she just wouldn’t stop.’
On Tuesday, a major trading card retailer offered the ‘Phillies Karen’ a $5,000 payout if she returns her infamous home run ball – but there’s one condition.
In a statement, Blowout Cards said: ‘We want that ball signed and inscribed by her – and only her, whoever she is – “I’m sorry” so we can simply give it back to the kid.
‘Our offer is official and the offer is firm’.
