US1 min(s) read
Published 16:06 28 Dec 2020 GMT
Grammy award-winning musician Keyon Harrold has shared a video with his fans showing the moment a white woman launched at his Black teenage son while accusing him of stealing her iPhone.
As reported by the Washington Post, Harrold's now-viral video shows the moment an irate woman - who has not been identified - repeatedly accuses his 14-year-old son of stealing her iPhone moments after they exited an elevator inside the upscale Arlo Hotel in New York.
The footage shows the woman, who is wearing a face mask, repeatedly and urgently telling a hotel staff member that the teen had taken her phone, despite the youngster denying any wrongdoing and repeatedly telling her that it was his iPhone.
Watch the incident unfold below:
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As the woman repeatedly lunges at the boy in an attempt to grab the phone, Harrold can be seen intervening, telling his son: "You don’t have to explain nothing to her."
As the frantic woman tells the teenager to prove the phone is his, Harrold says: "Are you kidding me? You feel like there’s only one iPhone in the world?"
Harrold - a frequent collaborator with D’Angelo, Robert Glasper, Common and Maxwell - later shared the video with his 71,000+ Instagram followers.
In the caption of the post, Harrold blasts the hotel staff member for siding with the woman (who was no longer a guest in the hotel), rather than defend Harrold and his family who were staying there. He writes:
"I hate I have to post this!!!
I am furious!!! We see this c**p 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. This incident went on for five more minutes, me protecting my son from this lunatic.
"She scratched me; she Tackled and grabbed him. He is a child!!!
"Now watch it again. This lady is not even a guest at the hotel. She checked out of the hotel on the 23rd of December; today is the 26th. Now watch as the manager advocates for the lady who is not even a hotel guest, insisting and attempting to use his managerial authority to force my son to show his phone to this random lady. He actually empowered her!!!
"He didn't even consider the fact we were actually the guests!
"Now think about the trauma that my son now has to carry, only coming downstairs to have [Boxing] day brunch with his dad."
Harrold then claims that the woman's phone was found shortly after in an Uber. He writes: "Then... her phone was magically returned by an Uber driver a few minutes after this incident.
"No apology from her after this traumatic situation to my son, not me. No apologies from the establishment. This s**t happens so often. It needs to stop!!!"
In response to the video going viral, Arlo Hotel issued a statement on Sunday (December 27), in which they condemned the woman's actions and issued an apology to the Harrold family.
The statement read: "We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice, and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo Hotel.
"In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence; still, more could have been done to deescalate the dispute.
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The company added: "No Arlo guest — or any person — should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience, and have reached out to them directly to express our sincere regret and to offer help in dealing with this traumatic event.
"We are committed to making sure this never happens again at any of our hotels."
Per the Washington Post, the New York City Police Department has confirmed that it is investigating the incident.
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In a follow-up post, Harrold told his fans: "We are hurt and saddened but we are not people who want anyone to be falsely accused or want to ruin someone’s life. Let’s be mindful and spread love through this hatefulness."
