United Airlines ‘racist Karen’ tells her side of the story as she’s unmasked as California real estate agent

The woman who recorded herself delivering a racist rant at a man and his family on a United Airlines shuttle bus now claims she was provoked – and blames her actions on a brain injury.

Arlene Bunch, 64, has been exposed after unleashing a hateful tirade against photographer Pervez Taufiq, his wife and their three children in Los Angeles last week.

Taufiq told DailyMail.com that Bunch began making racist comments to his son during their flight, but the situation escalated when she told his children to “shut up” while they were all in the shuttle.

However, Bunch has since defended her actions, insisting she is not racist and calling the incident a series of escalations that started because the Taufiqs called her “white trash.”

She was recorded sticking her middle fingers at Taufiq and calling him ‘f*****g crazy’ and ‘tandoori stinky a**’.

Bunch, a California-licensed real estate agent who nearly died in a propane explosion last year, gave her side of the story Fox 11.

‘[Taufiq] pushed me aside to get in front of me and the lady let him go back to the end of the line and he talked to his wife, “supposedly they are first class. Obviously without class and look at the way they” they are dressed. ..they are white trash,” Bunch said.

‘[They were] aggressively as we loaded the shuttle. He turns to me and says “Shut the fuck up, you white bastard” and then my husband intervenes.

“None of this is in the video. And most people know me as a very nice, calm person, but since the brain injury I get irritated very quickly.’

The incident the “Karen” is referring to occurred on March 22, 2023 when Bunch was injured in an explosion at the Val D’Isere Condominiums in the mountain town of Mammoth Lakes.

Bunch wanted to turn on the stove to make breakfast when a propane leak caused the stove to explode, according to a GoFundMe setup for her.

“Arlene, who was face to face with the blast, was thrown twenty feet from the house and buried under five feet of rubble,” the fundraiser said.

‘In addition to burns to her face, chest and arms, she suffered several large lacerations, a punctured lung, a broken rib, a broken sternum, a broken vertebra and a crushed foot. There is no part of her body that has not been affected.’

She told the local newspaper The leaf that she was left with a traumatic brain injury and stuttering because the explosion tore the surface of her lip.

‘It’s bizarre to have nothing at my age. Everything I’ve ever had – every photo, every memory… it’s surreal,” Bunch said.

“I tell everyone I love them because I’m so grateful. That’s my whole new attitude. It’s so bizarre, because I look at everyone, and everyone is so precious – just to be alive, you know? I spend more time talking to strangers… I feel like I’m a brand new baby in a sense of fascination with life itself and the people who live, and where are we going in the end?’

Taufiq said the family received one free business upgrade for their flight and decided to give it to their 11-year-old son.

At one point, Taufiq, sitting three rows behind his child, went over to look and that’s when he had first contact with the woman.

“I was there for maybe three seconds, and a lady comes up behind me coming out of the bathroom and says, ‘Can I go to my seat?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, of course’ and I stepped aside,” he said.

She sits down in her chair and mumbles softly. I didn’t think about it at all at the time.’

After the plane landed and they were led to the shuttle, Taufiq’s son revealed that Bunch asked him uncomfortable questions during the flight.

“As we were getting off the plane, my son started saying to me, ‘Hey, so that lady asked me if you’re Indian and I said yes, and then she asked me if I was from New Delhi and I said no, I’m from from Bombay,” Taufiq said.

In the shuttle, Taufiq picks up Bunch and says, “Your family is from India, you don’t respect the rules, you think you can push everyone… that’s what you think you are. You guys are fucking crazy.

‘I’m going to record your f******g tandoori a**.. your tandoori stinking a**.’

He asked security to have her removed before Bunch interrupted and said, “She doesn’t care that I’m a racist, you’re racist towards me.” I’m American.’

“So do we,” he replied.

“You’re not American,” Bunch insisted. “Not originally no, you’re from damn India.”

“I was born in America,” Taufiq said.

“No, it wasn’t, it’s not in your passport,” she replied. Taufiq said, ‘Yes, do you want to see my passport? Will that make you happy?’

A United employee arrived on the shuttle and began talking to Bunch as other passengers shouted and asked her to get her off the bus.

United would not tell Taufiq what conversations she had with the airline, suggesting they discuss it with the FBI instead.

‘I had gone to the toilet for a moment, they were talking to my wife, and they were like, ‘Oh, they were going to arrest her and there were five officers there and they were going to ban her. flight list.”

“But then I tried to call them to see what happened, but we don’t know. They can’t tell us.

“We’re going to file something with the FBI because realistically it started in the air and it’s technically their space. That’s what the United People actually told us.”

DailyMail.com has contacted Bunch and United Airlines for comment.