Miya 'Soho Karen' Ponsetto Charged With Hate Crime for NYC Hotel Incident

Do y’all remember Miya Ponsetto, one of the Becky-est Karens to ever perform acts of Susan-try against Black people who were trying to mind their own business?

Well, if you’ve forgotten, Ponsetto is the Piru, Calif., woman who, last December, was caught on video falsely accusing 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. of stealing her cell phone—which it turned out she left in an Uber—at an Arlo Hotel in New York City, and then tackling Keyon after he and his father refused her demand to show her the teen’s cell phone to prove it wasn’t hers. Ponsetto was arrested in January over the confrontation, and now, she’s charged with a hate crime.

NBC 4 New York reports that on Wednesday, Ponsetto was arraigned virtually in a Manhattan court where she pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, aggravated harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Ponsetto’s attorney, Paul D’Emilia, called the charges “a brazen and clear overreach of the intent of the statute,” and said that, “In sum, they are absurd, and a perversion of our legal system.”

OK, calm down, Paul.

First of all, in a perfect legal system, Ponsetto would have been charged with a second hate crime for her abysmal and caucasity-infused performance during the two–part interview she did with Gayle King in January. (I mean, I definitely hated that shit.) Secondly, when a white person (she said she wasn’t white in the King interview, but she’s definitely spiceless and color redacted in spirit) loses their phone and then targets the first Black person they see with a phone and calls them a thief—sorry, but I’m just going to assume they’re racist.

But whatever; lawyers are going to lawyer and hers have been insisting that race didn’t play a part in her acting a Klan fool. (Sorry, I meant “damn fool.” That’s…that’s definitely what I meant.)

Anyway, according to NBC, Ponsetto’s next court date is scheduled for Oct. 20.