For over a decade, white women have been putting men "on blast" and shaming men for virtually any action they take or words they speak.
There's "mansplaining," "manspreading," allegedly "interrupting" them, the imaginary "wage gap," "all men are rapists," talking to them in elevators, saying the word "dongle," making jokes at work, etc. There's also the false rape accusations and articles, phony cries of discrimination, complains about "dead white male" authors, and more complains about anyone "stale, male, and pale."
Normally, I'd consider the Karen meme in racial terms. But considering how white women have behaved online for over a decade, I see it as payback. It's a justified response to a class of people who have drummed up trouble for too long and who have rarely gotten called on it.
Someone is finally calling these women out on their incessant complaining and belittling others. What goes around comes around and all that.
This is where being a bit older is useful on this forum. I remember this going back to the 1980's. Most of society hadn't yet "woke" fully.
But nonetheless, guys were getting fired for making a fart jokes in front of "Karens" at work, simping was common, and most of the infrastructure of the left had been in place since the 1970's. But it hadn't gone fully mainstream.
Back then, executives had limousine privilege. They had the money to fight this kind of nonsense:

Ex-Miller Exec Wins $26-Million Verdict in 'Seinfeld' Case
A jury awarded $26.6 million Tuesday to a former Miller Brewing executive who sued the company for firing him after he discussed a racy episode of "Seinfeld" with a female co-worker.

But if you were an average Joe, and a Karen was offended by you, look out. With this increasingly common in the workplace and beyond, it became part of mainstream culture. This goes back not a decade, but 30 years or more. In the 1970's, the career gals had to be a bit more polite since they were still outnumbered and corporations cared about their bottom line more than being "woke".