Just in case you weren’t over the gross unfolding of “SoHo Karen” Miya Ponsetto’s story, part two of her now-viral interview with journalist Gayle King was released by CBS This Morning on Monday. In a continuation from Friday’s interview, during which Ponsetto continued to wear her now-infamous “Daddy” hat, we pick up with the 22-year-old (virtually) sticking her hand in King’s face to silence her questions and say "enough."
The six and a half minute segment, during which Ponsetto doubles down on the "NBD" time she attacked 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. after wrongfully accusing him of stealing her cell phone, continues to prove that she is, perhaps, the complete encapsulation of white privilege.
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Here's where the video picks up: After sharing that the hotel returned her phone to her, which they had reportedly recovered from the Uber she left it in, Ponsetto downplays her actions against the Harrolds, saying that “it didn’t seem like my accusations bothered the son and father because they were enjoying a nice meal after this whole encounter.” King then asks Ponsetto to recall the day of the incident, since she says she wants to “move on” and “keep [the interview] short and sweet.” As Ponsetto starts recalling the hours leading up to the assault, she declares that she wasn’t racial profiling the guests she believed took her phone and reiterated that she simply could not be doing that because she is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent.
King then interrupts her and asks: “Does that mean that you can’t be racist? Because you’re a woman of color?,” Ponsetto replies: “Exactly.” “Well, I would disagree with that. People of color can be racist, too,” King responds.
It should come as little surprise that Ponsetto, whose lawyer appears to want to walk into a swimming pool during every minute of this interview, continues to have the same attitude about what could have ended in a very racist attack against an innocent teenager. But perhaps what is even more jarring now, after the fact, is that she was given an opportunity to explain her actions — a platform to share her side of things — and she is attacking the very person who was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, who is also a Black woman.
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Part one of Ponsetto and King’s interview, which was released on Friday, drew criticism over the past week not only because of Ponsetto’s flippant response to attacking a teenager over a lost cell phone, but for her disrespect to the journalist willing to hear her out. And although Ponsetto was arrested on Friday in Los Angeles on a fugitive warrant and charged in Manhattan with two counts of attempted assault, attempted robbery, grand larceny, and endangering the welfare of a child, her story continues to draw ire — especially as she peddles the idea that she isn't racist, after doing something incredibly racist, and then putting her hand in a Black woman's face, while continuing to explain how not racist she believes herself to be.
It's entirely clear that, prior to her arrest, Ponsetto remained blind to all of the white privilege she was showing. If her "Daddy" hat wasn't loud enough, her snarky come-backs and jarring cut-offs of Gayle King were. The pure victimization of it all, where Ponsetto believes herself to be wronged and refuses to acknowledge the harm she caused to the Harrold family, truly culminates what the Black Lives Matter movement continues to fight against: the toxic white supremacy that enables people of privilege to believe they are owed mercy when Black and brown people never have been.
Ponsetto’s next court date is scheduled for March 29.