Californian woman Miya Ponsetto falsely accused a black teenager of stealing her iPhone before allegedly attacking him at a New York City hotel, to which led many to then dubbed her as “SoHo Karen.” A “Karen” is an internet term for entitled women who use their privilege to get their way.
The 22-year-old is now facing a series of legal charges, such as attempted robbery, grand larceny, acting in a manner injurious to a child and two counts of attempted assault after the December 26 attack was caught on camera. The victim was 14-year-old Kenyon Harold, Jr., son of jazz trumpet player Kenyon Harold.
Ponsetto is now claiming on a televised interview that she cannot be racist, due to the fact that she is Puerto Rican. The interview, which she showed up to wearing a hat that says “Daddy” on it, shows Ponsetto recounting the incident with Gayle King.
“I had noticed my phone had been missing. So I just approached the hotel manager, asked him if he could kindly just check the footage… In my opinion, I was, like, ‘OK, any person walking down could possibly be the person that might’ve had my phone.’ And I really didn’t, I wasn’t racial profiling whatsoever. I’m a woman. I’m Puerto Rican. I’m, like, a woman of color. I’m Italian, Greek, Puerto Rican.”
This prompted King to ask, “You keep saying you’re Puerto Rican. Does that mean that you can’t be racist because you’re saying you’re a woman of color? Is that what you mean?”
“Exactly,” replied Ponsetto, to which King stated, “I would disagree with that.”
After the interview was taped, Ponsetto was arrested in California, before being sent to New York City to face the charges.
