MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

'SoHo Karen' who falsely accused Black teen of robbing her phone in viral video says she was the one assaulted

The incident went viral after Grammy Award-winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold posted a video of a White woman accusing his son of stealing her iPhone in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel

A woman who had falsely accused a Black teenager of robbing her iPhone while at a New York City hotel has now broken her silence. She opened up and claimed that she was the one who had been assaulted during the confrontation. The 22-year-old woman has been dubbed as "SoHo Karen" but has not been publicly named. She made the claims while speaking to CNN on the phone for 20 minutes on Tuesday, December 29. 

She believes that she was assaulted and told the publication that she would also provide evidence to back up her claims. However, she eventually stopped responding to their calls and messages afterward. Throughout the phone call, the woman seemed to be rambling. 

She also provided some additional information about the events that took place prior as well as an unrelated incident that has not been confirmed. She was asked whether she is worried about facing charges and overall how she has been portrayed in the video. 

In response to this, she said, "Of course I worry. That's not who I am. I actually... try very hard to make sure that I am always doing the right thing." She also shared that she was willing to cooperate with the ongoing investigation but has not received a call from the NYPD.

The incident went viral after Grammy Award-winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold took to Instagram on Saturday, December 28, and posted a video of a White woman inside the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, accusing his son of stealing her iPhone in the lobby. 

The unidentified woman in the video has been branded “Karen”, a name infamously given to a White woman who is accused of using racial privilege over others. The musician had recorded the shocking video featuring the woman lunging at him and his 14-year-old son.

The woman desperately tried to claim that the iPhone in Harrold's son's possession belonged to her. Harrold had captioned the post, "I hate I have to post this!!! I am furious!!! We see this crap happening all the time, but it hits different when it hits home!!! I typically try to keep things positive, but nothing about this video is positive."

"The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the @arlohotels Arlo Soho to get breakfast. This person quote on quote 'lost' her iPhone, and apparently, my son magically acquired it, which merely ridiculous," the caption reads. 

Harrold posted that her iPhone was finally found when an Uber driver returned it to her after the incident was over. However, the father-son duo never received an apology for the accusations hurled at them by the woman.

Civil Rights attorney Benjamin Crump took to Twitter to say, "The @nypd needs our help identifying the woman who attacked Keyon Harrold Jr after falsely accusing the innocent teen of stealing her phone. This newly released footage of the attack clearly shows her assaulting Keyon before she fled the hotel prior to police arriving on the scene!"

There has been widespread social media outrage at the incident with many users commenting on the same. One such user shared, "Oh my god! She tackled that teenager to the ground. I don’t think I would’ve been able to contain myself if that was my son. NYPD sleeping on the job?? Why is she not found yet and arrested?" Another added, "It’s even worse than I thought it was. Hoping Keyon and his family get justice. So horrible."