Miya Ponsetto, a 22-year-old woman who assaulted an innocent Black teen in New York City while under the false assumption that he stole her phone, went viral after a bizarre interview with Gayle King aired.
On Friday (January 8), Ponsetto sat down with her attorney for an interview with CBS This Morning. Viewers were surprised that she chose to wear a hat that read "Daddy" during such a serious interview.
Ponsetto admitted to King that she could have handled the situation differently and half-apologized for her actions, appearing to outright deny or at least not understand the racist implications of accusing a young Black bystander for her missing phone. “Maybe [I should have] not yelled at him like that, and made him feel you know, some sort of, uh, inferior way, making him feel as if I was like, hurting his feelings — that's not my intention,” she said. “I consider myself to be super sweet.”
When King commented that her actions didn't seem so "sweet," Ponsetto responded, "How would you feel, if you were alone in New York and, you know, you're going to spend time with your family during the holidays, and you lose the one thing that gets stolen from you that has all of the access to the only way that you're able to get back home?"
Ponsetto's assault on 14-year-old Keyon Harold Jr. was recorded by his father, legendary jazz trumpeter Keyon Harold, who later shared it to his Instagram account. The incident took place on December 26 at the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan.
It's important to note that Ponsetto attacked the boy, a young Black teenager, instead of the several other hotel guests in the lobby. The teen did not have her missing phone, which was returned to her by the hotel. The footage that Harold Jr.'s father captured shows Ponsetto tackling the teenager to the ground.
"The footage shows me attacking his son, attacking him how?" Ponsetto asked King. "Yelling at him, okay, I apologize. Can we move on? Basically, I'm a 22-year-old girl. I am, I don't — racism — how is one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime?"
Finally, King brought up the video that clearly shows the physical altercation, to which Ponsetto cut her off and flung her hands in the air, exclaiming, “Alright, Gayle, enough.”
According to NBC News, Ponsetto was forcibly arrested on Thursday (January 7). The Ventura County Sheriff's Office told the outlet that she refused to get out of her car. She attempted to slam her door on one of the deputies and had to be physically pulled from the vehicle.
Watch the incident, below.
See fan reactions to the interview, below.