This was one of Newshub's top stories of 2023. It was originally published on May 1.
A new mum has gone viral by appearing to capture on camera the moment a stranger reprimanded her for her choice of activewear, exclaiming no one wanted to see her breasts "hanging out" while she exercised at the gym.
Mum-of-one Kylen Suttner, a 21-year-old from Ogden, Utah, had been filming herself performing chest presses at her local gym, footage she later shared with her 450,000 followers on TikTok.
Suttner, who gave birth to her son Suede in December, has been documenting her postpartum "transformation" and fitness journey by sharing her gruelling exercise routine with her followers on both TikTok and Instagram.
In the video, which was shared earlier this month, Suttner can be seen wearing a pair of gym shorts and a blue cropped sports top with a scooped cut-out in the neckline.
"I can't believe I got this on video," Suttner said in a voiceover at the beginning of the clip, which shows her resting her dumbbells on the floor as she finished a set.
A woman, who appears to have approached Suttner off-camera, can then be heard saying: "Do you really think you can walk around the gym wearing that?"
Visibly taken aback, Suttner asked, "What?", with the woman reiterating: "Your top. Do you really think you can walk around the gym wearing that?"
"My top? Yes," Suttner replied, adjusting her shirt and appearing uncomfortable.
"Your boobs are hanging out. We're in a public place, can you be respectful," the woman continued.
"Are you kidding me?" Suttner said, glancing down at her phone as it recorded the interaction.
"No, we're in a public place - do you not see everyone around? No one wants to look at your boobs hanging out," the woman pressed, to which Suttner responded: "I'm fine, thank you."
"Well, I don't think you are," the stranger added, as Suttner waved her off with a dismissive, "Okay, bye."
"Whatever, put a shirt on next time," the woman said as the new mum turned her attention back to exercising.
The footage, which has since been viewed more than 3.2 million times, was captioned, "Guess it's time to build a home gym", along with a series of hashtags such as #GymKaren, #KarensOfTikTok and #PublicGymProblems.
The viral video has prompted responses from thousands of people, the majority of whom have thrown their support behind Suttner and praised the new mum for her cool, calm and collected response. Others applauded her choice of attire and complimented her postpartum physique.
"I'm literally SO SHOOK. The audacity that girl had to say that?!? To even THINK that?!? Freaking slay, no shame queen!" one commented, with a second adding: "You handled that real well. I would've lost it on her. I'm so sorry!"
"Wow, you handled this better than I would have," another said, with a fourth agreeing: "I'm sorry girl! You held yourself together."
However, others have questioned the veracity of the video, with some wondering if the encounter was scripted to help Suttner's account get more views and virality. One asked, "Why does this sound set up?", while another claimed the stranger's voice sounded similar to someone who had appeared in Suttner's videos before.
Although she has not acknowledged the claims of her video being a hoax, Suttner has added to her rebuttal of the woman in the footage, declaring the encounter won't stop her from completing a challenge to go to the gym daily for 75 days straight.
"I was doing chest presses and just sitting there," the mum said, as reported by South West News Service (SWNS). "I don't know why she singled me out because there were other people in the gym wearing way more revealing clothes."
She said she suspects the woman may have been at the gym with her partner and may have become jealous if she spotted him glancing over at Suttner.
"Maybe her boyfriend was staring at me or something and it got her triggered, I don't know. But I was just sitting there and she came up to me and said it. It was weird," Suttner said.
She added that she was surprised the top in question attracted criticism as it was one of her "more modest" pieces of activewear.
"I felt like I was way more modest than I usually am... I often wear low-cut tops and shorts, but I was only wearing leggings and a top that showed a little bit of cleavage. I usually show way more," she explained.
"It didn't make me feel sad really. I was just beating myself up for not standing up for myself more. But I've not stopped going. I would never let something like that stop me from going to the gym or wearing what I want."
