Fence Lady

Submission 5,479

Part of a series on Viral Videos. [View Related Entries]

About

Fence Lady or Chainsaw Karen refers to a viral video of a Toronto woman and her husband cutting down their neighbor Tiffany Mraj's fence with a chainsaw because the fence was built on her property. The video was uploaded by Mraj sometime in May 2023 and went viral over the following months, with some framing the Fence Lady as a "crazy neighbor" and Karen. That August, Fence Lady uploaded a video offering her side of the story, explaining that the fence is on her property and blocking a pathway and her access to an AC unit. During the video, Tiffany Mraj's sister comes out and sprays Fence Lady with a hose. In another video by Mraj's mother, she can be heard telling Fence Lady to learn English, inspiring further support for Fence Lady.

Origin

On May 29th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @tiffanymraj posted a video captioned, "Our neighbor has taken our fence down without any papers; she has threatened our contractors and has caused chaos in the neighborhood. This needs to STOP." The video shows Mraj's neighbors, an Asian man and a woman nicknamed "Fence Lady," cutting down her fence with what appears to be a reciprocating saw. At one point in the video, Mraj approaches the fence as they're cutting through it and yells, "Are you trying to cut me with a chainsaw?" As she argues with her neighbors, Mraj steps onto the Fence Lady's property. Fence Lady pushes Mraj, who yells that she's a minor. The video has been privated along with Mraj's account and no full, original reuploads appear available.

The Sun^[2] reported on the video on June 23rd with an article titled "My petty ‘Karen’ neighbour took a chainsaw to my privacy fence – people say I should build an even higher one," deeming Fence Lady a "Karen." The Daily Mail^[3] reported on the video on August 13th, also painting Fence Lady as a Karen, including a cut of the full video with additional commentary (shown below).

Spread

On August 18th, 2023, TikToker^[4] @fencelady6, the "Karen" in the original video, posted a video explaining her side of the story. In the video, she explains that the fence was built by her neighbors, the Mraj's, on her property and that it blocks a pathway around the house and to an AC unit that she wants to remove. She explains that she's tried to settle the issue peacefully, but the Mraj's won't remove the fence, leading to the saw incident. She also claims the Mraj's want to take her to court. Near the end of the video, Tiffany Mraj's sister comes out and sprays Fence Lady with a hose. The video gained over 1.2 million views in six days (shown below).

Fence Lady's video garnered the support of many interested in the feud, who began to see the Mraj's as the ones in the wrong. On August 21st, TikToker^[5] @that_lawyer_says posted a video claiming that Mraj spraying Fence Lady with a hose is assault, garnering over 500,000 views in three days (shown below, left). On August 22nd, TikToker^[6] @andrewaslife posted a recording of a recent live by Mraj where she defends her family, saying people "don't know the whole story," that she wasn't hating on her because she's Asian and saying "yeah" to a commenter calling the hose spraying assault, garnering over 200,000 views in two days (shown below, right). In another now-private video, Mraj claims Fence Lady can access her AC through the backyard.^[10]

On August 23rd, a video from what is allegedly Tiffany Mraj's mother's Facebook^[7] profile started going around TikTok, showing another argument between the neighbors. In the video, one of the Mraj's suggests Fence Lady needs to learn English. The video was posted and reacted to by TikToker^[8] @that_lawyer_says that day, garnering over 760.000 views in a day (shown below).

Later that day, @fencelady6 posted a video to TikTok^[9] thanking everyone for their support and giving more info on the fence. She claims that the Mraj's did eventually move the fence to the property line after their videos went viral, but the land survey says there should be no fence on the property line and it prevents Fence Lady from repairing her home. The video gained over 128,000 views in a day (shown below).

Fence Lady's Message to Tiffany Mraj

On August 27th, 2023, Fence Lady posted a video to TikTok^[11] asking Tiffany Mraj to delete any of her personal information from social media and respect her privacy, saying she tried to reach out to Mraj privately but was blocked. The video gained over 940,000 views in five days (shown below).