The son of a Dallas food truck owner who went viral over a $4,000 tip dispute claims his mother’s business is still feeling the wrath of the “Keith Lee Effect” — and this time it could be potentially fatal.
On July 27, Deon Spelling posted a heartfelt message on his TikTok account, @DLTrey, stating his mother, Kim Viverette, owner of Sweetly Seasoned food truck in Dallas, attempted to take her own life after an offer to reconnect with TikTok influencer Keith Lee turned out to be a scam.
Spelling begins the video by saying his mother’s “entire world has been changed,” and she receives “death threats” and daily “non-stop harassment” since Lee’s visit.
He then explains that after his mother contacted the influencer to inform him of how things were going, she received an email she believed was on behalf of Lee to “bring all the parties together” and “find a resolution.”
Eager to stop the harassment, Spelling states his mother was on board with whatever Lee and his team needed to get them back to Dallas.
He says his mother continued communicating with Lee via text messages and email to arrange the visit, claiming that the food critic only requested that she pay a “$300 barber’s deposit”.
According to Spelling, in return for the barber deposit, Lee said he would “pay for food for three hours for everyone in the community.”
He describes the re-grand opening event at which Lee was supposed to appear, stating his mother kept up her end of the bargain and provided free food throughout the event. However, after waiting hours, Lee and the barber she paid a deposit for were no-shows.
“It was all a scam,” Spelling said. She lost thousands of dollars. She had to pay for the lot she was at. She lost all the food she gave away,” he said, reflecting on his mother’s losses due to the scam. Spelling admitted he went home after noticing his mother “didn’t seem too sad” but “bummed” out after the event.
“I woke up to all these calls,” he continues, “I’m not ready to lose my mom. I just lost my grandparents, lost my little brother, I lost my dad. I only got a lot of people left. I can not lose my mom!”
Spelling then emotionally pleads with social media to “leave his mom alone.”
“Just leave my mom alone. She literally can not take no more. She can’t! Leave my mother alone. PLEASE!”
The plea has gained over a million views and 3,000 comments, and while some viewers were sympathetic to Spellings’s outcry for his mother and sent their prayers, some weren’t so understanding.
One viewer on TikTok wrote, “This is so sad at the end of the day I’m so sorry this happened to you bro I wish y’all the best”
Another offered support. “How can we help?? There’s more good than evil in this world. I’m praying for your family.”
To which Spelling replied, “I have no clue… I’m honestly losing all the faith I had left.”
“Prayers for healing but I know there’s more to this story,” said one suspicious viewer.
The comments on X weren’t as sympathetic as others.
One X user wrote, “So what I’m reading is Keith Lee is being blamed for that woman’s attempted s**cide when he didn’t even expose her for stealing the THOUSANDS of dollars from her employees. Her employee did. She stole it. And the business collapsed when the public found out.”
“She literally refused to give free food the first time even though Keith Lee gave her money for it, refused to pay the barber, refused to pay the workers he told her to pay. We all saw it play out. Feels like another scam – especially with that sad ass background music,” wrote another X user.
Earlier this year, Viverette was slammed online after being unapologetic about not splitting the large tip Lee left after he visited her business on Jan. 31. The food influencer asked that $1,000 be used to cover haircuts that were being provided on-site and $2,000 be given to fellow influencer Sherelle Hodge, who insisted he visited the business. He also left $836 to cover food purchased for the day.
Hodge blasted Viverette for not paying out the tips as Lee directed and keeping the money for herself. After Lee contacted her on Instagram live, Viverette later stated she would give everyone involved what they were owed. The food truck then issued a statement, “apologizing” for the miscommunication regarding the tips and admitting that “they were wrong” and all the funds “were being released.”
