This story was originally published on Passionfruit.
Analysis
This article contains descriptions of racial violence.
In a culture contending with hyper-visible incidents of racism—like leaked footage in November 2022 of influencer Sophia Rosing using racial slurs—it is essential for creators to unpack how virality around an incident of hate is profitable for social media platforms, like TikTok or Twitter, and how the internet has changed our understanding of accountability.
What did Sophia Rosing do?
On Nov. 6, 2022, a video surfaced of a white University of Kentucky student drunkenly entering a dormitory. In the footage, the student, who was later identified as social media marketing student and campus “influencer” Sophia Rosing, then appeared to attack and use a racial slur against two Black people.
One of these victims came forward and identified themselves as Kylah Spring, a residential assistant, and the other was a student who is yet to be identified publicly. During the altercation, the footage appears to show Rosing, later dubbed a “Kentucky Karen” attempting to run Spring over with a shopping cart and throwing punches at her. Within the video’s ten-minute span, Rosing can be heard shouting the N-word more than 200 times, with the footage suggesting that the slur was directed at Spring. Rosing was then arrested at approximately 4 a.m., according to the Daily Mail.
Rosing is indicted by a grand jury
Rosing was charged with intoxication in a public place, assault, disorderly conduct, and assault on an officer. She pleaded not guilty and a grand jury indicted her on all six charges in February. Rosing has not yet spoken publicly about the incident, but her attorney reportedly stated she is “enrolled in treatment” and “will apologize at the appropriate time.”
Rosing’s mother also launched an online petition to give her daughter a “second chance” to finish her schooling at the University of Kentucky, where she is currently banned.
“Sophia is very remorseful for what she has done,” Jill Rosing claimed. “She cannot take back or erase any mistakes made in the past but she can learn from them and ensure that she doesn’t make the same mistakes again in the future.”
Currently, the petition has 474 signatures out of the goal of 500.
