‘Unaware of their race’: Who is Alaina Kunes? Ole Miss freshman and granddaughter of Kunes Auto Group owner apologizes after viral racist video

A white woman who was filmed making offensive gestures and racist noises with another woman outside the apartment where Black Ole Miss students lived has come forward and apologized.

She identified herself as Alaina Kunes, an 18-year-old Freshman from the University of Mississippi and the first woman shown walking toward the camera in the now-viral 13-second video.

“To the women I offended and to the Ole Miss community, I sincerely apologize,” the apology letter her lawyer issued on her behalf reads. The student also said she never met the women and was “unaware of their race”; however, she recognized her “actions were insensitive, inappropriate, and deeply harmful.”

Alaina Kunes is not a student of the University anymore

Kunes is no longer a student of the university, and, WREG reported, citing a statement from her attorney, she “has withdrawn from the school.”

Kunes said she is willing to cooperate in the investigation and hopes they will forgive her, and she would have “never intentionally made those noises or gestures toward a person of color.”

“I can never truly understand the pain I have caused them and it was never my intention,” she continued in the apology letter. “These girls deserve to feel seen and understood and what I did is not a reflection of who I am trying to become.”

The Ole Miss video showing racist gestures

On November 7, a day after the incident Ole Miss student Jakiyra Metcalf posted Ring doorbell footage to TikTok of three White women walking past an apartment door.

Two of them made ape-like noises and gestures while jumping directly into the camera; another woman walked past the apartment without stopping or making any racist gestures or monkey noises. Metcalf later learned the women were upstairs neighbors.

University of Mississippi is investigating the incident

Social media users initially mistook the White students for Alpha Phi sorority members, but the organization clarified in an Instagram post that the women in the footage have “never been affiliated’ with them.

A couple of days later, on November 8, Ole Miss’ Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shawnboda Mead confirmed the university was investigating.

“Over the weekend, a video circulated on social media showing University of Mississippi students engaging in racist gestures directed toward other students,” she said in the statement, adding, “The behavior depicted in this video is deeply troubling, hurtful, and unacceptable. We condemn the behavior as it does not reflect our university’s values or the kind of community we strive to be every day.”

What more we know about Alaina Kunes and does she have any ties to Kunes Auto Group

Spectrum News 1 cited online records and confirmed that Alaina Kunes is the daughter of Scott Kunes, the former COO of Kunes Auto Group who left the post in February, and granddaughter of Gregg Kunes, the owner of Kunes Auto Group.

The apology letter from the lawyer stated that Kunes “has no ownership or connection” to Kunes Auto Group, which operates in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. And the woman caught on camera has never worked for the company.

Kunes’ family and earlier controversy with racism

Two people earlier have filed lawsuits against the Wisconsin-based company claiming discrimination. Attorney William Sulton, who represented them in court, said to Action News 5 that his “office has been inundated with complaints about racism and other consumer rights issues since the Makayla Starks incident in 2025, where she had a sticker with the N-word printed on it.”