Hairstylist Charged After Posting Viral Video Dragging Teen Client Over Payment Dispute

The incident went down in Saint George’s County on March 2, after Jayla Cunningham, 18, posted a now-viral video of her dragging a 15-year-old client by her hood and throwing her on the ground. According to Cunningham, the teen was trying to leave without paying.

In the clip, Cunningham purportedly tells her client, “Sit right here until somebody sends it.” This appears to be in reference to someone sending payment for the services, which Cunningham said came to $150 and included $150 hair extensions.

“I’m not f–king playing, you just tried to f–king run,” Cunningham added, per the outlet. “You lucky I ain’t beat the s–t out of you.” The clip also shows her cutting out the weave she had purportedly just put in.

Cunningham provided additional context for the viral video, which Fox affiliate WTTG reports has more than 54 million views, telling the outlet that the teen had left the building entirely before she was pulled back inside.

“She ran. Forget trash, she ran without paying me,” Cunningham told the outlet. “I dragged her by her hood back into the salon until I could get paid or, you know, until the police come or until, you know, she let me take out the service, because it’s like she literally ran outside, like she was about to be gone.”

“I feel like if I didn’t do that, she would have been gone and I would have just never been paid,” she added.

The teen’s mother, though, insists it’s all just a big misunderstanding, and that Cunningham took things too far. She filed a police report which claims her daughter accidentally sent the payment to the wrong CashApp account and was trying to figure out how to fix it when it all went down.

“It’s just absolutely absurd. It’s viral. It’s all over the country,” the mother said of the clip. She also said that her daughter is “not good at all” after the shocking incident.

According to the mother, Cunningham didn’t just grab her daughter’s hood, but also got her hair when dragging her through the salon. She says her daughter is traumatized after the experience.

In addition to the assault charge, Cunningham is also facing a civil lawsuit brought by the teen’s family.

“The video is horrendous. It’s a 15-year-old girl. We’re talking about someone’s child here — a child who is being dragged across a salon floor by her jacket for over something as simple as a mistake,” attorney De’Aja Thompson of Marlboro law firm Jackson and Associates told WTTG.

Cunningham said she was unaware of the assault charge when contacted by the news outlet, but that she is prepared to bring a witness to back up her claims against the teen. She also said that since her video went viral, she’s been facing death threats and is afraid for her safety.

She has a summons to appear in court on April 18 on the assault charge.