00:00A San Francisco wine bar is closing after an influencer left in tears, and although the owner
00:04previously called it a no-ego space, TikTok says ego is exactly what got him shut down.
00:10A small TikToker whose love language is food is going viral after sharing her experience
00:16collaborating with a San Francisco neighborhood restaurant offering small plates and curated
00:21wines. In the video, which now has over 14 million views, the influencer, whose name is Carla,
00:27explained she was still emotional after just leaving the collaboration crying.
00:34And for anyone unfamiliar, a restaurant collaboration is when a creator like Carla
00:39visits a restaurant and makes a video to promote it to their audience. In exchange, the meal and
00:44drinks are usually comped, and sometimes the creator gets paid too, depending on how big their
00:49following is. Unfortunately, this was not the fun collaboration experience for Carla.
00:54I know that they're talking about me because I can hear them saying TikTok, views, followers,
01:00so I start listening in. The TikToker explained the chef started questioning her followers,
01:06and when he learned her audience size was around 15,000, he became even more dismissive.
01:11He was saying that I have two little followers and that this was a mistake.
01:14The owner eventually approached Carla directly and things only got worse.
01:18He goes on to say that my audience and my followers are not the kind of people that are going to be
01:24at his restaurant. Feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable, Carla says she left the restaurant
01:28in tears before she could even finish the collaboration. Since going viral, Carla has
01:33received an outpour of support, gaining over 200,000 new followers, along with a comment section full of
01:39brands eager to work with her and a promise to boycott eating at the restaurant. One comment stated,
01:44so instead of him swallowing his ego and $250, he's lost hundreds of potential customers and even
01:51more money. Then he says, not to be snobby, but do you know who I am? Although Carla didn't name the
01:57restaurant in her video, TikTok detectives worked fast. Within hours, commenters had identified the
02:03spot as Kiss Cafe and the co-owner as Luke Sung, a chef who was nominated for a James Beard Award over 25
02:10years ago. One TikTok user even found an interview by the San Francisco Standard where the co-owner
02:15stated he wanted Kiss to be a no-ego place where people can just come and feel free to chillax.
02:21But to many online, the situation looked like the opposite and they made their feelings known
02:25and the backlash quickly spread beyond TikTok. Kiss Cafe's Yelp page displays a message that reads,
02:32this business is being monitored by Yelp's support team for content related to media reports.
02:37After being flooded with one-star ratings, many citing a rude owner. Even more personal,
02:42users tracked down Luke Sung's daughter's TikTok, an influencer with over 600,000 followers,
02:48and began flooding her comment section with criticism, many repeating the phrase,
02:52do you know who I am? Following the backlash, Kiss Cafe posted a public apology on Instagram
02:58and the official statement confirmed that Luke Sung is no longer part of the business
03:03in any capacity. The statement read, that behavior does not reflect the remainder of our team.
03:08We want to create a space that's welcoming and respect to everyone. In this instance,
03:13we fail to do so. Sharing, Luke had personally apologized to Carla and announced that the
03:17restaurant would be closing and restructuring. The post ended with a request for the public to
03:22avoid turning this into an excuse for racism or hate speech, asking for empathy towards the staff
03:27still affected by the fallout. Carla has since posted an update video thanking her supporters
03:32and also addressing the bullying and harassment that followed in the wake of her viral post.
03:37Do you want to make it clear that I do not condone any type of bullying or slander to
03:42unrelated family members? Share your thoughts below and follow us everywhere at What's Trending.
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