A restaurant outed an influencer for scrounging and their response was as petty as it gets
There’s certainly no shortage of influencers trying to get free or discounted stuff in exchange for that well-known currency – exposure.
One of them, Antonio Malik, @antonio_eats_la, sent a message to Corner 17 in St. Louis, trying to get a $100 discount, and this is how that panned out.
Not only did Corner 17’s owner, Xin Wei, share the polite refusal on their Instagram account, but he also shared the influencer’s insanely petty reaction, screengrabbed before the account was locked.
Brace yourselves.
Xin Wei explained why he called out the influencer. TW – it contains a reference to an extremely offensive racial slur, which we have partially censored.
We understand that we have a small platform here in the social media, and we don’t get as much voice as other media influencers especially with Asian cuisine.
Most of time the restaurants don’t have any social accounts or time to manage their accounts. An intentionally bad write-up from a large following influencer because of our refusal to accept their collaboration is unprofessional and a such hostile manner can simply ruin their businesses.
I want to step up because we felt threatened by this media influencer. I want to give a voice to my Asian community that is ok to say no and turn down any promotional offers, no fear to stand up and defend yourself.
It reminds me last Saturday at the back of our restaurant parking lot. A guy called me CH**K simply because I ignored his random cursing. I walked up to him even though he was two times bigger than me. There was no fight because there was a nice guy pulling that crazy guy away.
What I want to say here is that we respect freedom of speech, but everything has its limit. When you feel disrespectful from anyone anytime, we should all stand up to fight for yourself and the community.
Here are just a few of the supportive messages left in the comments.
Shame on him.
taiyakinyc
What in the world!!! No no no.
michellelitv
Imagine how many times he has done this to other small businesses… good for you for exposing him!!
chungateit
Sorry to see this happen to you. His account is on private now because he got caught. Such a dummy. Can’t get it his way so he chooses to make up crap.
davidthefoodie
F* them! Big fan over here.
riverfronttimes
Just absolutely disgusting behavior. I’m sorry y’all had to go through this. Sending y’all love and if I’m ever in town corner17 will be my first stop!
stevenkwlim
An Instagram user named @bigredmoon_ had one last burn for @antonio_eats_la.
An LA food “influencer” who can’t tell the difference between a dumpling and a bao bun 😂 shot himself in the foot with that one.
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This baker has clearly had enough of scrounging ‘influencers’