Joe Yates
The Burger King employee who received the sack after single-handedly holding down the fort at one of the fast-food chain's restaurants has broken her silence.
Last month, Nykia Hamilton rose to internet fame after being filmed working every station at a Burger King in Columbia, South Carolina, during her 12-hour shift. However, she was later laid off just weeks after the video went viral.
The mom-of-three received the devastating news that she was being let go on August 8 after turning up late for her shift, which she attributed to being a busy parent.
Three days later, on July 9, she created her own GoFundMe, noting that she had never asked for the fame she found.
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"I am a 25-year-old single mom of 3 who works 2 jobs. I just went viral for working on TikTok. If you wanna contribute, it's OK. Thank y'all for the support," she wrote in the description.
"I wasn't expecting my life to change how it did. I really do everything for my kids."
Now, Nykia - who was working two jobs before she was fired - posted in an update on the page: "Thank y'all so much for the support. I didn’t expect turn out, but I promise I won’t let y'all stay tune for videos dropping soon."
Incredibly, Nykia and her family are closing in on having received almost $100,000 from well-wishers, with the sum at the time of writing totalling $91,205.
But that's not the only update she's provided; she also took to Instagram, wearing a set of gold grills, to reveal her plans.
"Hey, y'all. How y'all doing?" she started. "I'm really looking for sponsors to start this support group called 'Hands Helping Hands', helping any single parent, single mother, single father, anybody out there that needs help, period."
She continued: "So anybody want to be a sponsor or want to contribute, or want to be part of this movement, please inbox me, hit me up. I really try to make this happen. I try to make this a nonprofit organization to help other people out. Thank you."
Responding to rumors around Nykia's sacking, Burger King issued the following statement to UNILAD: "No Team Member should ever be left to run a restaurant alone, even for a short period of time.
"That’s not how we operate, and we’re disappointed that our policy, which requires more than one Team Member to work per shift, wasn’t followed.
"Terminations are the decision of the franchisees who own and operate the BK restaurant. In this situation, the franchisee confirmed that the individual involved is no longer employed due to repeated attendance issues.
"While we can’t share more on individual personnel matters, we’re focused on making sure every restaurant, whether company or franchise-run, has the staffing and support needed to take care of our Team Members and deliver the kind of experience our Guests expect."