The episode carries particular weight at an institution with a documented history of such incidents.
The University of Mississippi has opened an investigation after a doorbell surveillance video showed two white students making monkey gestures and noises toward the apartment of three Black students, according to The Guardian. The footage, uploaded to TikTok on Saturday by freshman Jakiyra Metcalf, has been viewed nearly 13 million times and drew widespread condemnation over its racist connotation.
The clip shows one woman thumping her chest and babbling like a monkey, before a second woman enters the camera's view and mimics the noises. According to Metcalf's mother, Tasha Bolton, writing on Facebook, her daughter lives with two Black roommates and the women in the video are their upstairs neighbours. Bolton's husband, Brooks Bolton, said the family is not yet speaking publicly about the incident.
One of the students seen in the video, 18-year-old Alaina Kunes, issued an apology through a Chicago law firm while insisting her behaviour was not related to race. "I would have never intentionally made those noises or gestures toward a person of colour," she said, adding that she had apologised to the women and intended to cooperate fully with the university's investigation. Kunes also said her family had received death threats and harassment, and asked for privacy.
Shawnboda Mead, the university's vice-chancellor for student affairs, condemned the video in a Sunday statement, saying racism and actions that disparage people because of an aspect of their identity have no place on campus. She said the school had reached out to the affected students to offer support, and advised the campus against sharing unverified information about who was involved. A university spokesperson did not respond to a Tuesday inquiry about the women's enrolment status or whether disciplinary action had been taken.
The episode carries particular weight at an institution with a documented history of such incidents. In 2014, fraternity members hung a noose around a statue commemorating the school's first Black student. A decade later, at a pro-Palestine demonstration, some white male counter-protesters directed monkey noises at a Black female protester, The Guardian reports.
What remains unclear is how the university will proceed. No finding has been announced, no disciplinary outcome confirmed, and the enrolment status of the students in the video is unknown. Kunes's claim that the gestures were not racially motivated sits uneasily against the history the university itself acknowledges, and the investigation will be judged on whether it produces a clear account of what happened and what follows. The family of the students targeted has not spoken publicly, and their account is not yet part of the record.
