Gayle King
Gayle King.
Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images
  • Miya Ponsetto falsely accused a 14-year-old Black boy of stealing her phone at a New York City hotel.
  • She gave an exclusive interview to Gayle King on “CBS This Morning” to talk about the incident.
  • After being questioned about her motives, Ponsetto put her hand up to the camera and said to Gayle, “Enough.”
  • Ponsetto has since been arrested in California by the Ventura County police for a fugitive warrant in connection to the original incident.
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Miya Ponsetto, the 22-year-old woman who falsely accused a 14-year-old Black boy of stealing her phone, is going viral again, this time for a heated on-air exchange with CBS host Gayle King that many called “disrespectful.”

Ponsetto gave an exclusive interview to King on “CBS This Morning” about the incident where she denied racial profiling, wore a hat with the word “Daddy” on it, and at one point, sternly told King, “Enough!”

Dubbed on Twitter as the “Soho Karen,” Ponsetto was filmed confronting 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. at the Arlo SoHo hotel in New York City and accusing him of taking her cell phone. The exchange, which occurred on December 26, was filmed by Harrold Jr’s father, jazz musician Keyon Harrold Sr., and uploaded to Instagram where it quickly went viral. Another video of the lobby footage also went viral and appeared to show the 22-year-old Ponsetto grabbing Harrold Jr.

The phone in question was later returned by an Uber driver – Ponsetto had left the phone in his car.

Ponsetto was arrested on Thursday in California by the Ventura County police for a fugitive warrant in connection to the incident at the New York City hotel. The Ventura County Sherrif department spokesperson told TMZ that they were waiting for Ponsetto when she arrived back at her home in Piru, California, but she refused to get out of the car and tried to slam the car door on the arresting officer’s leg. TMZ also reports she will be facing additional charges for resisting arrest. An NYPD spokesperson told Insider that she has not been charged or extradited at the moment.

King interviewed Ponsetto prior to her arrest on 'CBS This Morning.' When King told Ponsetto she should have known better, Ponsetto told King 'enough.'

In the interview with King on CBS, Ponsetto sat next to her attorney, Sharon Ghatan, and answered questions from King about the incident.

"I admit, yes, I could have approached the situation differently and maybe not yelled at him like that and made him feel some sort of inferior way and making him feel as if I was like, hurting his feelings," Ponsetto said.

 

Ponsetto continued to try and defend her actions and said, "I consider myself to be super sweet. I really never meant to hurt him or his father, either." But Gayle continued to try and get further clarification about Ponsetto's actions and why she chose to target this young boy specifically, to which Miya replied, "How is one girl accusing a guy about a phone, a crime? Where's the context in that? What is the deeper story here?"

At this point, Gayle puts the conversation in perspective for her: "You seemed to have attacked this teenager about the phone and then it turned out, he didn't even have your phone. You're saying you're 22-years-old, but you are old enough to know better."

Ponsetto, seemingly fed up with the questions, puts her hand up to the computer screen and says, "All right Gayle, enough."

People were shocked by the heated exchange between Ponsetto and King and called Ponsetto 'disrespectful'

Twitter feeds were flooded with tweets from people who were aghast at the exchange. Multiple Twitter users celebrated King's "patience" and "grace" when Ponsetto cut her off.

Artist and grassroots organizer, Bree Newsome wrote in a tweet, "Seeing that interview with Gayle King and noting how violent white/light women always demonstrate an awareness of their ability to weaponize their proximity to white femininity against those who are darker."

 

Many on Twitter noted the language she chose to use in this interview, especially when she mentioned that she was a Puerto-Rican woman."This Miya Ponsetto thing is a great time for us non-Black Latinas to really look inwards at the ways we've weaponized our proximity to whiteness against Black folks," Founder of Latino Rebels, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, tweeted.

 

Others spotted her reservation in using the word "Black" and calling the 14-year-old Harold Jr. "a man." The Young Turks host, Adrienne Lawrence, said in a tweet, "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." 

 

Insider has also reached out to CBS and Ponsetto's attorney, Sharen Ghatan, for additional comment on the viral video, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

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