When we hear the term “nepo babies” we often think about children of people in high-ranking or popular positions, but in the case of this Black woman in Mississippi, she was trying to get her children jobs at a fast-food restaurant.
Last week, Burger King manager Shakalya Dixon was fired after discovering that she hired her son and his three friends at a location in Clinton, Miss. Her son and his friends were also relieved of their positions, according to KBTX.
Though this job was just meant to help them earn extra money over the summer, the group of four boys considered it their “safe haven.” Corderrion Valentine, Dixon’s 15-year-old son, told the local news outlet, “We could have really been out doing that, but we went out and worked.”
Dixon was so excited about working with the group of friends over the summer that she shared a photo of them working on Instagram. Surprisingly, the post received a lot of love on the internet, with entertainer Nick Cannon even bringing attention to it.
But her fun summer came to an end when she got a call from her district leader.
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“She said we don’t want to turn something good into something bad, but we have some concerns. The concerns she had were the fact that Corderrion is my son and how much money they were getting paid,” Dixon said.
According to Dixon, management told her that minors were supposed to get paid differently than adults.
“It was never brought to my attention beforehand. It came down to policy, but I feel like policy wasn’t in play in the beginning,” she said.
Since being fired, Dixon has created a GoFundMe to help her son and friends pay for school items in the fall.
On the page, she wrote, “We need monetary donations, school supplies, school clothes, Bill donations, and anything else that will help us get through this unexplainable moment.”
Nepotism has been a hot topic lately after LeBron James’ oldest son, Bronny, was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Though many championed Bronny’s achievement, many were skeptical claiming that they don’t like nepotism no matter if it’s a Black or white person involved.