Miya Ponsetto says she can’t be racist because she’s a ‘woman of color’
The California woman dubbed “Soho Karen” for falsely accusing a black teen of stealing her iPhone and allegedly attacking him at a Big Apple hotel says she can’t be racist because she’s a “woman of color.”
Miya Ponsetto, 22, made the remarks during a previously filmed interview with “CBS This Morning” anchor Gayle King that was teased on Twitter Monday.
Over the weekend, Ponsetto was charged with attempted robbery, grand larceny, acting in a manner injurious to a child and two counts of attempted assault over the alleged Dec. 26 caught-on-camera attack on 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. at Manhattan’s Arlo Hotel.
The teen victim is the son of jazz trumpet player Keyon Harrold.
Ponsetto, who showed up to the nationally televised interview wearing a hat that said “Daddy,” recounted the incident with King.
“I had noticed my phone had been missing. So I just approached the hotel manager, asked him if he could kindly just check the footage,” Ponsetto recalled.
“In my opinion, I was, like, ‘OK, any person walking down could possibly be the person that might’ve had my phone.’ And I, I really didn’t, I wasn’t racial profiling whatsoever. I’m a woman. I’m Puerto Rican. I’m, like, a woman of color. I’m Italian, Greek, Puerto Rican.”
King then asked, “You keep saying you’re Puerto Rican. Does that mean that you can’t be racist because you’re saying you’re a woman of color? Is that what you mean?”
“Exactly,” Ponsetto replied, prompting King to add, “I would disagree with that.”
The CBS interview was conducted before Ponsetto was arrested in California last week and before she was extradited to New York to face the charges.
At her arraignment in the case Saturday, Ponsetto was sprung on supervised release.