A few seconds of doorbell-camera footage have become a national controversy at the University of Mississippi. The video shows two white women making monkey-like noises and gestures outside an apartment occupied by Black students. After millions watched the clip online, one of the women identified herself, apologized and left the university. The school says it is investigating what happened.
The video was posted by student Jakiyra Metcalf, who said the women lived upstairs from her and her roommates. In the footage, the women approach the Ring camera, beat their chests and make noises associated with monkeys. The imagery carries an unmistakably racist historical association, and the clip rapidly drew widespread condemnation.
Alaina Kunes, 18, later acknowledged she was one of the women in the video. Through a statement issued by a law firm, she called her behavior insensitive and harmful, apologized to the residents and said she did not intend to target anyone on the basis of race. She also said her family had received threats and harassment. An apology can acknowledge harm while still leaving questions about intent unresolved.
The University of Mississippi condemned the conduct and said it conflicted with campus values. Administrators offered support to the students living in the apartment and opened an investigation. The university confirmed on Tuesday that Kunes was no longer a student but did not publicly specify the circumstances of her departure.
TMZ reported, citing sources close to Kunes, that she withdrew voluntarily and had not been expelled or suspended. That distinction matters: the public backlash was immediate, but a viral video does not by itself establish what disciplinary action a university took. Reports that she left school should not be casually rewritten as a university expulsion.
The footage reportedly reached nearly 13 million views by Tuesday. For the residents who saw the video, however, the story was not primarily about view counts. Their own doorway had become the setting for conduct they and many viewers experienced as racist and threatening. One resident told reporters she felt unsafe in her home and in public afterward.
The campus has dealt with other incidents involving racist imagery and gestures. The Guardian noted a 2014 episode involving a noose placed on a statue commemorating the university’s first Black student, and a 2024 protest at which a white counter-protester directed monkey noises at a Black woman. Those earlier incidents provide context, though they do not establish the motives of the women in this particular video.
Kunes has insisted she did not know Black students lived in the apartment and that the behavior was a joke gone wrong. Critics point out that the gestures do not lose their racial meaning simply because someone denies a racist intention. The difference between intent and impact is now at the center of both the public argument and the university’s response.
There is another line worth holding. Condemning conduct captured on video does not justify threats against the people involved or their families. Kunes says she has experienced harassment, while the residents deserve to feel secure in their home. A university investigation should be able to consider both concerns without confusing them.
What remains unknown is the full disciplinary outcome and whether other people in the clip will be identified or face consequences. What is already clear is how quickly a brief doorstep incident can travel from a private hallway to a national audience. The camera captured only seconds; the aftermath is likely to last considerably longer.
