Nationwide — Shakayla Dixon, an African American manager at a local Burger King restaurant in Clinton, Mississippi, has been fired along with her son and his friends after hiring them to work at the restaurant due to alleged nepotism. The issue arose after Dixon proudly shared a viral Facebook post featuring the teens at work.
“I felt like it was a good thing because we could have really been out doing violence or shooting or killing but we went out and worked,” Valentine told WLBT. “I felt like it was a fun experience to get you ready for the real world.”
Initially excited about the new hires, Dixon shared their photo on Facebook, which unexpectedly went viral, garnering over 10,000 likes and 5,300 shares. The post even caught actor Nick Cannon’s attention, and he shared it on Instagram, getting nearly 95,000 likes.
However, things took a turn when Dixon received a call from her area manager and district leader. Dixon recounted, “She said we don’t want to turn something good into something bad, but we have some concerns.”
The higher management apparently expressed concerns about hiring her son and his friends, particularly regarding pay discrepancies for minors.
“She told me that a minor is supposed to get paid differently than what an adult gets paid. It was never brought to my attention beforehand. My things were when it came down to policy. I feel like policy wasn’t in play in the beginning,” Dixon continued.
Valentine, who hoped to set a positive example for his peers, found the job loss disheartening. He said, “I hope that it portrayed a lot of people to do things good and stop the violence.”
Meanwhile, Dixon launched a GoFundMe campaign to support her son and his friends with upcoming school expenses after losing all their jobs.