Velma Dinkley the character from the beloved cartoon Scooby-Doo has been dubbed a Karen for her ability to call police on Black characters in a new video game. Following backlash the game has changed her powers.


The brainy crime-solver in the Mystery Inc. gang Velma appears in MultiVersus an online fighting game released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in July.Shes one of the many famous characters players can choose from Warner Bros. Discoverys catalog including DC Comics Wonder Woman and Batman and Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny and Tasmanian Devil.However Velmas portrayal in the game has stirred debate online. As a sleuth she can collect enough evidence against her opponent hold up a wanted poster and call the police on them. Her characters ability to call police on Black characters such as basketball star LeBron James who appeared in the movie Space Jam A New Legacy didnt sit right with everyone.

Critics branded Velma a Karen — a term coined by the internet to refer to a white woman who uses her status and power to humiliate a person of color.

There has been a spate of viral moments of white women threatening to or calling police particularly on people of color for things as trivial as watering flowers and barbecuing in parks. 

One Twitter user said he enjoyed Velmas character in the game but maining a character whos special move is calling the police on her enemies definitely dont sit right with me as a Black man. 

They really made Velma a snitch in multiversus another Twitter user said.

Velma in multiversus is just a karen one player tweeted in August. she yells at u and calls the cops.

Velmas abilities changed Thursday as a result of patch updates to the game.

Instead of calling the police Velma now solves the mystery and calls the Mystery Inc. gang and the Mystery Machine to take the bad guys away the update said.

NBC News has reached out to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for comment on the change.

The update was welcomed by some players.

Velma got updated in #MultiVersus and now she doesnt call the cops. Which GOOD. They shouldnt have gotten there TO BEGIN WITH. She calls the Mystery Machine now. Which just makes MORE SENSE one person shared on Twitter.

Another player praised the update saying I love how responsive the developers are on MultiVersus and calling Velmas new power more thematically appropriate.

But not everyone agreed with the switch.

Im sick of the whole Velma is a Karen narrative that has come out of MultiVersus. Velma actually does her research and collects evidence before calling the cops on her opponents. Shes clearly not a Karen one Twitter user explained.

Another player said they grew up watching Scooby-Doo noting that the police being involved is nothing new for the character.

I think to impose this new school Karen stuff on that is wack the user said. Yall know it wasnt like that.