What is the Chef Papa NYC influencer controversy? Fahmida scam scandal explained

Chef Papa Vietnamese Kitchen, a family-run restaurant in Long Island City, New York, is going viral after its owner shared his experience working with a food content creator.

John, the owner of the Vietnamese eatery, uploaded a video on Instagram on November 9, showing screenshots of a conversation between the restaurant and the influencer medesoo0, whose real name is Fahmida.

He claimed that Fahmida reached out on September 17, hoping to collaborate with them. She asked for a comped meal in exchange for creating a review video of Chef Papa.

The restaurant agreed as John said that he hoped the video would help promote his business. Fahmida arrived 30 minutes late at Chef Papa on September 19, ordered $200 worth of food, and left. John noted that when the server asked if she enjoyed the food, she said yes.

The food and lifestyle influencer, with over 44,000 Instagram followers, did not post a review. The family-run restaurant kept texting her, requesting the video throughout October.

John said he even commented under her posts, which she uploaded daily, to get her attention. However, she ignored the comments.

After John's video was uploaded, asking other businesses to be careful with influencers who take advantage of them, Fahmida finally posted her review.

She claimed in her since-deleted video that the food, service, and smell of the food were bad, and rated Chef Papa a 1.2 out of 10.

Chef Papa then uploaded a response video, calling her out again. This time, John showed the comment Fahmida left on the first video, which was eventually deleted.

She noted that the standard of the food did not meet her expectations, and she did not upload her "honest" video, thinking it would impact the business.

John said that the review was "valid" as it was her own experience. However, he asked why she lied to the server and packed the leftovers. The owner claimed that the content creator left a $6 tip that night as well.

As the two videos of the restaurant went viral, netizens and other influencers called Fahmida out, and she ended up closing her comment section.

Fahmida, or medesoo0, apologized to Chef Papa

John shared an update on November 10, as he uploaded a screenshot of Fahmida's text. In it, she apologized for not being "communicative." The influencer claimed that after John's videos went viral, netizens supposedly kept sending her and her family death threats.

She offered to pay the restaurant $300 for the food and said that she would post a proper video of Chef Papa with background music and tag them. In return, they have to delete those two videos from Instagram and TikTok. The creator said that the situation was getting "very dark" and it was affecting her "physically and mentally."

The eatery shared in the comment section that they ended up refusing her offer as it was "too late" and taking the money now would make it more of a "bribe" than payment.

Then they requested that netizens not send any hate comments to Fahmida.

As of now, most food creators have come forward to support the family-run business.

Popular Instagram user @goob_u2, who exposes other creators, has promised to share the Chef Papa scandal on his page as well. Stay tuned for more updates.