Remember 'BBQ Becky'? The internet thinks this woman could be her best friend. Recently, a video went viral, showing an angry woman allegedly calling the police on an 8-year-old girl who was "illegally" selling water on the street. Meet 'Permit Patty.'
Her real name is Alison Ettel. Twitter user @_ethiopiangold and Instagram user @ladyesowavy shared the original video of Ettel appearing to report the girl, a relative of both. "This woman don't want a little girl selling sell some water. She's calling the police on an 8-year-old girl," the child's mother is heard saying. "You can hide all you want but the whole world is going to see you boo."
Ettel told HuffPost that, "this has no racial component to it." She also said she only "pretended" to call the police. Ettel added that the incident, which has left her feeling "horrible and heart-wrenched," began because the girl's mother was "screaming." She asked the building’s security to intervene but said they could do nothing.
"They were screaming about what they were selling," she said. "It was literally nonstop. It was every two seconds, 'Come and buy my water.' It was continuous and it wasn’t a soft voice, it was screaming." She said she had been hearing the little girl and her mother from her open office window.
"I have no problem with enterprising young women," Ettel added. "I want to support that little girl. It was all the mother and just about being quiet."
"It was stupid," she concluded. "I completely regret that I handled that so poorly. It was completely stress-related, and I should have never confronted her. That was a mistake, a complete mistake. Please don’t make me sound horrible."
The internet, however, wasn't convinced. Investigating the woman, it found something that suggests Ettel herself might be missing a permit. Her business, a company called TreatWell Health creates cannabis products for humans and animals alike. But the latter is a legal gray area.
Ettel was also supposed to appear in a documentary about women in the cannabis industry. Upon seeing the viral footage of the phone call, however, the director of the film has announced that Ettel will be no longer involved with the project. Critics were calling for a boycott of TreatWell, too. At least three Bay Area retailers, Magnolia Oakland, SPARC, and Barbary Coast have announced that they will no longer carry the company’s products because of the 'Permit Patty' incident.
This is Alison Ettel but the internet calls her 'Permit Patty'
Her nickname was born after this video went viral
Soon, the girl's cousin stepped in to better explain the situation
She also shared a pic of the "criminal"
People started investigating 'Permit Patty'
Image credits: lwoodhouse
Because of the viral video, 'Permit Patty' is already losing customers
Ettel later said it was a "stress-related" mistake
But people weren't buying it
