A Mississippi mother claims she, her teenage son, and his friends were fired from Burger King. This happened after her social media post about them went viral.
Manager Shakayla Dixon hired her 15-year-old son, Corderrion Valentine, and his four friends. They worked at the Clinton, Miss., fast food joint. The idea was to help them earn money and stay off the streets.
“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 the outlet.
Dixon praised the boys on Facebook for joining her team. She was thrilled about it.
The post showed Valentine and his friends posing and working in the kitchen. It generated over 90,000 likes and caught Nick Cannon’s attention.
“Now this is the wave! Staying out of trouble, and getting the bag the right way! This is how it’s done kings,” Cannon captioned his Instagram post.
However, Dixon got a call from the area manager and district leader soon after the picture went viral.
“She said we don’t want to turn something good into something bad, but we have some concerns,” Dixon said.
“The concerns were that Corderrion is my son and how much money they were getting paid.”
Dixon claimed the manager told her minors should be paid differently than adults. This policy was never mentioned to her before.
“My things were when it came down to policy. I feel like policy wasn’t in play in the beginning,” she said.
Dixon and the four teens were fired from their jobs. It’s not disclosed how much they earned.
Valentine said losing the job has been difficult. He always strives to be a positive role model and wanted to show how hard work pays off.
“I felt like it was a fun experience to get you ready for the real world,” he said.
He still believes their summer job will inspire others to stay out of trouble. “I hope that it portrayed a lot of people to do things good and stop the violence,” he shared.
Clinton is in Hinds County, Miss., about 8 miles from Jackson. The violent crime rate in Jackson is 2.469 per 1,000 residents annually. According to crimegrade.org, a crime occurs in Clinton every six and a half hours.