One Accused Ole Miss Student Apologizes, Quits; Second Still Unidentified
One of two Ole Miss students caught on a doorbell camera making monkey noises outside a Black student's apartment has apologized and withdrawn from school. The second woman has not been identified — and, according to a roommate, kept making the gestures even after the apology.
Case at a glance
- Jakiyra Metcalf — subject
Next: Ole Miss has not announced a date to conclude its student-conduct review, and FERPA means any discipline it imposes may never be made public. The second, unidentified woman has not commented on the allegations, and whether she faces any university process of her own remains unknown.
What the Ring camera recorded
On the evening of Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, a Ring doorbell camera outside an off-campus apartment at the University of Mississippi in Oxford recorded three young women walking past the front door. ABC News and Mississippi station WTVA both put the time at around 8:30 p.m.
Two of the three women stepped toward the camera, beat their chests and made monkey noises, according to ABC News, WTVA and NBC News. The third woman glanced at the lens — appearing to smile, per ABC News and WTVA — but did not join in and kept walking, NBC News reported.
The apartment is home to three Black students, including Jakiyra Metcalf and her roommate Victoria Johnson. Metcalf posted the footage to TikTok that weekend, tagging the university: "What do we have to say about this??" according to ABC News. The video had been viewed more than 12 million times by Monday afternoon, ABC News reported.
The imagery itself has a specific, ugly history. Comparing Black people to apes and monkeys is a slavery-era racist trope, and several outlets covering the video, including WTVA, noted it was historically used to dehumanize Black people and help justify slavery and segregation.
The confrontation at the door
Metcalf and Johnson told NBC News they went outside shortly after seeing the footage to confront the women. One of them — later identified as 18-year-old Alaina Kunes — apologized on the spot, Johnson said.
Kunes told the two residents that she and the other woman had made the same gestures at three other doors before reaching theirs, saying "We didn't mean any harm," according to Johnson's account to NBC News.
The second woman did not apologize. "She continued to make the gestures after the girl was apologizing. It was like a slap in the face," Johnson told CBS Mornings, according to NBC News. That woman has not been identified and has not commented publicly, NBC News reported.
"She continued to make the gestures after the girl was apologizing. It was like a slap in the face," — Victoria Johnson, roommate of the Ole Miss students targeted in the video, to CBS Mornings (via NBC News).
Who's involved in the case
Jakiyra Metcalf and Victoria Johnson are two of the three Black students who live in the apartment and were targeted. Both spoke publicly — Metcalf through her TikTok post, and both in an interview with CBS Mornings reported by NBC News. The third resident has not been named in the coverage reviewed.
Alaina Kunes, 18, is the woman NBC News reported was identified as one of the two who made the monkey gestures. She has apologized publicly and withdrawn from the university, according to a source close to her cited by NBC News. The second woman who took part has not been identified by any outlet in this coverage, and the third woman seen walking past in the video did not participate in the gestures, per ABC News and NBC News.
Shawnboda Mead, Ole Miss's vice chancellor for student affairs, issued the university's public statement on the investigation. Tasha Bolton, whose daughter is one of the students in the apartment, has publicly pressed the university for answers, according to ABC News.
What the university's investigation covers
No criminal charges have been reported in connection with the video. The matter is being handled as a student-conduct case, running through Ole Miss's Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct, according to the Oxford Eagle.
The university confirmed to ABC News that all three women in the video are Ole Miss students but would not say whether any discipline has been imposed, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which shields student disciplinary records from public release.
Mead's statement, issued Sunday, Nov. 8, said the incident "is being actively investigated by the appropriate university offices" and that staff had "reached out to the students directly impacted to offer support, listen to their concerns, and connect them with available resources," per ABC News.
Kunes's withdrawal from the university was described by NBC News as her own decision, relayed through a source close to her — not a university sanction. The status of the second, unidentified woman inside any university process is not known, NBC News reported.
ABC News and WTVA noted this is the second time in roughly two years that Ole Miss has investigated a student for directing monkey gestures at a Black person on or near campus. In 2024, a white student made the same gesture toward a Black woman protesting the war in Gaza; then-Chancellor Glenn Boyce said at the time that "some individuals at the demonstration acted in ways that conflict with our university's values" and that such conduct undermines "the values that are fundamental to a civil and safe society," according to ABC News. That student was expelled from his fraternity — a sanction imposed by the fraternity, not the university, ABC News reported.
What each side has said publicly
Kunes apologized Tuesday, Nov. 10, saying she recognized her actions "were insensitive, inappropriate, and deeply harmful." She said she had been "unaware" of the residents' race until the video drew national attention and said she hoped for the residents' forgiveness, according to NBC News.
Metcalf, Johnson and their third roommate told CBS Mornings, as reported by NBC News, that they were left "hurt and devastated" by the mockery and that it was "very disheartening." Asked whether she could forgive Kunes, Metcalf said that whether or not Kunes knew their race, the gestures were "very disrespectful," per NBC News.
Bolton, the mother of one of the residents, wrote online that she wanted "answers," asking "what steps will be taken to address this behavior and ensure accountability," and called the video "absolutely disgusting and unacceptable," according to ABC News. The university's own statement said, "Every student deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued at the University of Mississippi. Racism and actions that disparage people because of an aspect of their identity have no place in our campus community," per ABC News.
What happens next
Ole Miss has not announced a date to conclude its student-conduct review, and FERPA means any discipline it imposes may never be made public. The second, unidentified woman has not commented on the allegations, and whether she faces any university process of her own remains unknown.
How this plays in court
No criminal charge is on the table here; the case runs entirely through Ole Miss's student-conduct process, which applies university policy rather than criminal law and resolves behind the confidentiality wall built into FERPA.
Any conduct panel is likely to weigh the gap between Kunes's claim that she was "unaware" of the residents' race and her own account, relayed by Johnson, that she had made the same gestures at three other doors before reaching Metcalf's — a pattern that cuts against an isolated-mistake defense.
The defense available to the identified student rests on the voluntary apology, the voluntary withdrawal, and the absence of any physical contact or direct threat — the argument that offensive conduct, standing alone, does not satisfy a harassment or safety-threat standard under most student codes.
Because the second woman has not been identified or interviewed, the only account of her continuing the gestures after the apology is secondhand — Johnson's description to CBS Mornings — and any review of her conduct would have to be built without her own statement on the record.
- ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos: University of Mississippi officials condemn alleged racist taunts in viral doorbell video, launch investigation
- WTVA: Ole Miss student’s doorbell camera video sparks outrage
- NBC News: Ole Miss students ‘devastated’ by racist monkey gestures and noises captured on door camera
- The Oxford Eagle: Ole Miss investigating video showing racist behavior