In a new video, CBS This Morning anchor Gayle King interviewed Miya Ponsetto, the 22-year-old woman known as “SoHo Karen.” Throughout the conversation, Ponsetto dismisses the acclaimed reporter and at one point says, “Gayle, enough.”
The woman attracted national attention after a video allegedly showed her physically tackling a 14-year-old Black teen, son of jazz musician Keyon Harrold, while falsely accusing him of stealing her phone at a New York hotel.
On Thursday, Ponsetto, who has a history of outbursts and legal troubles, was arrested on a fugitive warrant in Piru, California.
Per an NBC News report, a spokesperson said police “forcibly removed Ponsetto from the vehicle, saying she resisted arrest, refused to get out of the car, and tried to slam a car door on one of the deputies.”
In the remote interview with King, Ponsetto wears a baseball cap reading “Daddy” and sits with her lawyer Sharen Ghatanas as she breaks down the now-viral altercation at the Arlo Hotel.
When King asks her why she thought the younger Harrold had stolen her phone, she responds that there was a possibility that anyone coming in and out of the hotel could have had her phone.
“I admit I could have approached the situation differently, or not yelled like that,” Ponsetto says. “I never meant to hurt him or his father.”
Ponsetto calls herself a “sweet person,” but King points out that the reaction was “very extreme.”
Ponsetto responds, “How would you feel if you were alone in New York, and 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 the access to the only way to get back home?”
King presses the issue, questioning if her reaction was appropriate for the situation, especially for a random stranger. Logic dictates she could have found a new or temporary phone, if necessary.
King points out further that the video evidence shows Ponsetto physically attacking the younger Harrold. Ponsetto denies the attack but says the teen’s father “slammed her to the ground and pulled [her] hair.”
When King asks for further context on Ponsetto’s verbal and physical aggression, her story gets flimsy and nonsensical.
“Basically, I am a 22-year-old girl,” she says. “How does one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime; what is the deeper story?”
One Twitter user noted the statement infantilizes herself as a “girl” but refers to the Black teen as a man.
“Miya, that’s not the problem,” King says. “You have to at least understand your actions that day … You seem to have attacked this teenager about the phone, and then it turned out he didn’t even have your phone … You’re 22 years old, but you’re old enough to know better.”
“All right, Gayle, enough,” Ponsetto says, waving at her laptop dismissively.
After the interview, King tells the other anchors that Ponsetto’s attorney suggested she not wear the “Daddy” cap. She refused.
King says she told Ponsetto that she “wasn’t helping herself.” CBS will release more of the interview on Monday.
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