Woman Caught On Video Attacking Black Teen Snaps At Gayle King In Unhinged Interview
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Miya Ponsetto, the 22-year-old woman who has already earned herself the moniker “SoHo Karen,” had an incredibly tense interview with CBS’s Gayle King, just hours before her 4:30 p.m. arrest in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Ponsetto was caught on camera falsely accusing 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. of stealing her phone in the lobby of New York City’s Arlo Soho Hotel on Dec. 26. In the viral video, she appears to attack the teenage boy, running after and tackling him as he tries to exit the hotel.
Jazz musician Keyon Harrold, the teen’s father who shot footage of the encounter, has accused Ponsetto of racial profiling. Harrold also said that her missing phone was left in an Uber and later returned by the driver.
The 22-year-old woman caught on camera allegedly physically attacking a 14-year-old Black teen and falsely accusing him of stealing her phone was arrested in California.
In an exclusive interview, Miya Ponsetto and her lawyer spoke with @GayleKing hours before she was arrested. pic.twitter.com/ezaGkcWZ8j— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 8, 2021
In her interview with King, which aired Friday, Ponsetto admitted to the “CBS This Morning” host that she should have approached the situation differently, “maybe not yelled at him like that and made him feel, you know, maybe some sort of inferior way, making him feel as if I was, like, hurting his feelings.”
Ponsetto — who chose to wear a baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Daddy” for the interview — added, “I consider myself to be super sweet. I really never, ever meant for it to, like, hurt him or his father, either.”
Yet when King pressed her about the context of her actions, Ponsetto responded, “How is one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime? Where’s the context in that? What is the deeper story here?”
King pointed out that Ponsetto appeared to attack the teen and that she is “old enough to know better.” Ponsetto snapped back, interrupting King, holding up her palm and saying, “All right, Gayle. Enough.”
When video of the interview was posted on Twitter, many users were troubled by Ponsetto’s attitude and in awe of King’s composure.
Notice how Miya Ponsetto...
- can’t even say “Black”
- feels completely comfortable being downright disrespectful to Gayle King
- professes to be too innocent to be racist
- is indignant about having done no wrong
This IS racism in action. https://t.co/UQk713rgci— Adrienne Lawrence (@AdrienneLaw) January 8, 2021
I love how Gayle King has people tell on themselves. A gift. https://t.co/gVH9GK6keE
— Rebecca Theodore-Vachon (@FilmFatale_NYC) January 8, 2021
Miya Ponsetto, the 22-year-old woman caught on camera attacking a 14-year-old Black teen after falsely accusing him of stealing her phone, has been arrested in California.@GayleKing interviewed her hours before her arrest. Gayle was grace under fire! #MiyaPonsetto #GayleKing https://t.co/9P2JNPi3qa
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) January 8, 2021
Gayle King: "You're 22 years old, you're old enough to know better."
Miya: Gayle, enough.
LOL Mia is TRYING to dig herself into a GRAVE https://t.co/IDmTg8lIdC— Kosoko “PREORDER YESTERDAY IS HISTORY” Jackson (@KosokoJackson) January 8, 2021
Many also had a few choice words about Ponsetto’s accessory.
well, i've been accused of doing a racially motivated assault, time to put on a hat that says "Daddy" and go on national television to explain myself without any preparation https://t.co/Xlfg3de5HS
— Law Boy, Esq. (@The_Law_Boy) January 8, 2021
not her wearing a daddy hat pic.twitter.com/sZw5ujE6JF
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) January 8, 2021
You gotta think the producers were pretty stoked when it became clear that the daddy hat would be staying on for the interview https://t.co/pvHAOEXGpC
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) January 8, 2021
According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office — which coordinated with the New York City Police Department to arrest Ponsetto on a fugitive warrant — an attempt was made to pick her up in a traffic stop near her home in Piru, California, on Thursday.
But Ponsetto wouldn’t stop her vehicle until she pulled up to her house, and even then refused to get out of the car. She tried to slam a car door on one of the deputies and had to be physically removed from her vehicle, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told NBC News.
NBC noted that it was not immediately clear what charges Ponsetto faces. The sheriff’s office also told HuffPost that there were no updates on the charges and that she will remain in local custody without bail while awaiting extradition to New York.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.