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.
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 "
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.
—CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 8, 2021
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
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."
—usa is a failed state (@BreeNewsome) January 8, 2021
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.
—Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez (@priscadorcas) January 8, 2021
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."
—Adrienne Lawrence (@AdrienneLaw) January 8, 2021
Ponsetto's attorney, Sharen Ghatan, told Insider the interview with "CBS This Morning" that was released on Friday was only half of the entire interview. She said the second part of the interview will be released on Monday.
Ghatan also told Insider that she did step in multiple times during Ponsetto's sparring with King, but it wasn't shown in this interview that was released on Friday.
CBS did not immediately respond to Insider's request for additional comment on the viral video.
UPDATE: This version of the article includes a statement from Ponsetto's attorney, Sharen Ghatan.
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