In a sit-down with CBS Mornings on Wednesday, Jakiyra Metcalf, Kaiyden Caldwell and Victoria G. Johnson, the three Black freshmen at the University of Mississippi are speaking out and sharing what happened after the now-viral Ring camera footage was captured outside their apartment.
For those who missed it: On Friday, Nov. 6, a 13-second clip caught two white women pounding their chests and making ape noises at the roommates’ front door, while a third woman kept walking past. Metcalf, 18, found the footage on her doorbell camera and posted it to TikTok, where it has since racked up more than 12 million views. Ole Miss opened an investigation, and the ACLU of Mississippi says it is reviewing complaints too.
Metcalf and Johnson didn’t wait for an official response. They went outside and asked the women to explain themselves. According to the students, one woman apologized and told them they hadn’t meant any harm. She also claimed the group had done the same thing at about four other doors. Johnson said the roommates never saw anyone else’s door get that treatment, and theirs was the only one targeted.
However, Johnson says the second woman kept doing the gestures while her friend was still apologizing. “It was like a slap in the face,” she told CBS reporter Jericka Duncan. Metcalf says that even if other doors were hit, that doesn’t make it okay.
The apology went public on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Alaina Kunes, 18, identified herself through her attorney as one of the women on camera. She said she was unaware of the students’ race and called her behavior harmful. Her family, she says, has received death threats, and she has withdrawn from the university. The second woman has not been identified and has not come forward.
The roommates aren’t buying that the apology settles things. Metcalf said the gestures are disrespectful no matter who lives behind the door, and she has “mixed feelings” about forgiveness.
Caldwell said she appreciates the apology but that it can’t undo that Friday, calling the whole thing devastating. Johnson’s mother, Chiquita Lao, joined the interview and offered a more measured take on Kunes leaving school. She doesn’t enjoy hearing it, since young people are the future, but she believes everybody has to be held accountable.
The three women say they are staying put. Their majors are psychology, nursing and radiology, and they’re not letting a stranger’s behavior run them off the path they came to Oxford to walk.
They’re leaving discipline for the second woman up to the university while cooperating with the investigation. All three grew up in Mississippi, and none had ever experienced anything like this. Johnson hopes their willingness to speak up pushes others to do the same instead of letting incidents like this get swept under the rug.