Ole Miss Students Filmed Making Monkey Gestures Outside Black Students’ Apartment

Overview

• A security‑camera clip posted to TikTok by student Jakiyra Metcalf shows three white students passing her Oxford apartment and two of them making chest‑beating motions and monkey sounds, with the footage drawing more than 13 million views.
• The University of Mississippi confirmed the people in the video are students and opened a formal, confidentiality‑bound investigation while offering support to the targeted students.
• One student, identified as 18‑year‑old Alaina Kunes, apologized through a lawyer, said her family received threats, and voluntarily withdrew from Ole Miss saying she will cooperate with the inquiry.
• Online reactions split sharply: a GiveSendGo fundraiser organized by Tom Hennessey has raised roughly US$40,000 to support an implicated student, though it is unconfirmed whether any student will accept those funds, and social media users have circulated other names tied to the footage.
• The episode has revived debate over the university’s racial legacy, recalling James Meredith’s 1962 court‑ordered integration and a similar 2024 campus incident, and it could shape how administrators address hate‑related conduct and campus safety going forward.