Remember Soho Karen, yeah but she has now pleaded guilty.
Let me remind you of the incident here it is.
>> You don't have to explain nothing to her.
>> That's mine [INAUDIBLE] >> Are you kidding me?
You feel like there's only one iPhone made in the world?
>> No, then show me [CROSSTALK] >> Get a life around.
You better go you find find my iPhone.
Find my iPhone is on.
>> No, you can't.
>> I'm the manager in the hotel.
>> I don't care, this is my son.
Hey, didn't you see him just come downstairs out of the elevator?
>> I'm trying to help man.
>> But you're not helping.
I am.
You are being disrespectful.
>> No, I'm trying to settle the situation.
>> My son has nothing to
do with her [CROSSTALK] >> No,
he's not leaving, show me the proof.
>> [INAUDIBLE]
black people.
>> No, I'm not
letting him walk
away with my phone
[INAUDIBLE] >> She has now pleaded guilty.
Let's put up her picture.
This is Maya Ponsetto, aka Soho Karen all right?
She pleaded guilty on Monday to unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime for
her falsely accusing the then 14 year old Keyon Harrold Jr
of stealing her cellphone and then attacking him at the hotel.
This was back in December 2021 viral, everybody remembers this.
So let me give you some background to what's going to happen.
So while Ponsetto is all ready on probation in a home state from a separate
case, she is avoiding jail time for this case as part of this guilty plea.
Back in June, she initially pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charges.
Now according to CBS news, under the conditions of her plea deal,
Ponsetto will be required to continue counseling,
avoid interaction with the criminal justice system and
follow the terms of her probation from a separate California case.
If she maintains those conditions for two years, she will be allowed to re
plead to aggravated harassment in the second degree as a class a misdemeanor.
If she fails to abide by the terms,
Ponsetto could spend one to four years in state prison, okay?
Before I go into some more detail here,
I want to remind everyone of the systemic issues involved.
If you remember, Soho Karen was in a hotel and
she made an accusation against another guest.
Well in that accusation she decided to become aggressive,
violent to physically stop a person's mobility.
Well, the hotel manager decided to get involved by
going after the black family systemic bigotry.
At no point did he say, wait a minute, this is a guest.
You cannot talk to guests this way we have security footage that
can be reviewed, you make a claim at the desk.
Nobody did that.
Nobody from that hotel said you have to stop harassing these two
black people and one of course was a black 14 year old child.
Let me show you how this is a systemic racial failure.
Imagine if a black man lost his cell phone and
he decides to go up to a white woman and a white child and
start telling them you're not leaving this hotel room
until I get a hotel until I get my cell phone.
And then physically stops their movement, runs after them,
physically assaults the child, the the 14 year old white girl.
What do you think happens in that situation?
Do you think the hotel manager comes up and
says to the 14 year old white girl or to the white parents,
hey what have you all done here to make this African American male so upset?
Hell no, you know no matter what your political belief is, you know,
good and damn well that would never be the reaction of the hotel manage.
Thus proving the issue of systemic racism,
institutional racism, bigotry and bias existing and
permeating in the culture, for one reason, the color of skin.
There's more to the story,
acting justice Laura Ward told Ponsetto in the Supreme Court,
you have been given a tremendous opportunity turn this lousy situation
into a good situation so you never find yourself here again.
Ward also warned Ponsetto to have no contact with Harold Jr or
his father who happens to be a jazz musician.
Keyon Harold for the next two years.
The last time she was in the big apple for a court date,
Ponsetto told the post that she wished she had apologized differently to the victim,
I feel like I made a mistake she said.
Harold Jr took to his Instagram following the ruling with a screenshot
of a headline and photo of Ponsetto from civil rights attorney Ben Crump's IG.
And the caption Harold thank followers for
their ongoing support as his family fights for justice.
And also said, and I quote, my son and
our family deserve more than an apology after being wrongfully and
aggressively attacked in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel.
For Ms. Ponsetto to describe the unprovoked assault as a mistake
minimizes the trauma that Keyon JR continues to feel to this day.
Harold explained his family not only blames Ponsetto but
also holds the hotel for not deescalating the situation.
And he finally closed demanding for accountability.
The only way we can get individuals and corporations to change the culture of
systemic racism is to hold them accountable for
their actions each and every time.
A clear message that this sort of abhorrent behavior would not be tolerated
needs to be made period, all right?
They have sued Ponsetto over the situation.
I think they need to sue the hotel as well, wise thoughts here.
>> Yeah, you hit the nail right on the head that the hotel to me is the most
responsible party because they're the ones that essentially in charge here.
They're the ones who set what the rules are for guests behavior and
they're the ones who enforce set rules and they just didn't do that here.
They let this lady have free rein to go accusing whoever the hell she pleased,
basically based on these people being black.
Ad she got to behave however she wanted, she put her hands on people and
nobody stepped in and it's crazy Doctor Richie.
Because in retail space, I have friends that work in retail and
they'll tell you if you watch somebody walking out the store with the iPhone,
don't touch them, don't follow them, don't do anything.
You can see something like that occur and
you mind your business because once you go attacking people and all of that,
they got free reign to do whatever they want with you.
This lady is absolutely lucky the amount of restraint these
brothers showed in that situation.
She's lucky that she didn't get her top popped because of this.
And the hotel manager just automatically siding with her the fake damsel in
distress while just casting aspersions on these completely innocent fellow guests.
It's awful and I would hope that they have to pay some level of
recompense to those guests man because this is bs.
>> Yeah, we're gonna follow the case.
As I said, Soho Karen has been suited has not gone to trial yet.
So obviously there's going to be an update to that case pretty soon.