What's With The Rumors About A UCF CS Professor Being In A DDLG Relationship With A 'Hello Kitty' TA? The Controversy Explained

A bizarre piece of gossip has captured the attention of students at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. After a professor left his position as a computer science (CS) instructor at the school, his students went on the UCF subreddit to ask each other why he was let go from the University.

Soon after, a giant Imgur dump filled with photos of a blonde woman dressed in girly outfits walking around campus with the professor in question began making the rounds on Reddit. It turns out that some UCF students are convinced that the professor was fired from his position because he made his Hello Kitty-obsessed girlfriend his teaching assistant.

Redditors claimed that the TA had pasted Hello Kitty coloring pages with the words "Happy 43st [sic] Birthday Daddie" on the professor's door, with photographic proof of the damning art making its way from Reddit to Twitter to TikTok.

But with UCF mods purportedly deleting all evidence of the controversy from Reddit, it's getting harder to discern fact from fiction.

Here's the tea on the Hello Kitty Girl and UCF Professor Travis Meade Dating Rumor Controversy and why it's making the rounds online this week.

What Sparked The Rumors About A UCF Professor And His Hello Kitty TA?

In late October 2024, Redditor /u/PinkDestroyer10 made a post to /r/UCF, the official subreddit for the University of Central Florida. The post read, "Why was Professor Meade fired?" further clarifying, "Just curious if anyone knows the actual reason 'cause I have heard a few rumors and I wanna know what happened. (I really like tea lol)."

The post was later deleted by /r/UCF mods, but not before /u/Mindless-Mango-3724 replied, writing, "I would be in class and his girlfriend (or it looked like that) was the TA … It did feel a bit unprofessional." Another Redditor asking, "Girl with all the rainbow clothes and accessories, right?"

Where Did People Find Pictures Of The UCF Professor And His Hello Kitty TA?

On October 22nd, 2024, an anonymous Imgur user shared videos and photos of people they claimed were the UCF professor in question and his "Hello Kitty TA," who could be seen dressed in frilly, girly outfits with a red bow in her hair in several photos. The two looked chummy — holding hands, and exchanging sweaters while walking around campus.

Other photos shared in the Imgur post showed the Hello Kitty notes purportedly on Professor Meade's office door. In one image (shown below) the phrase "Happy 43st [sic] Birthday Daddie" and the name "Kaylee" can be seen scrawled onto the Hello Kitty notes.

Not everyone agreed that the photo dump was all that damning. Redditor /u/chrissolanilla replied to the Imgur post, saying that Professor Meade "left because he got a good job lined up, he was not dating the TA." Other Redditors snapped back, saying that it didn't matter if they were dating, and that walking hand in hand with one's TA is not normal.

How Did People React To The News About The UCF Professor And His Hello Kitty TA?

"CS Professor and his Hella Kitty TA" is a gossip headline almost impossible to ignore, and it wasn't long before the story escaped Reddit containment.

Wide-eyed TikTok videos made by people unrelated to UCF or the state of Florida began making the rounds online, with one TikToker writing, "When everyone is shocked that a professor got fired but his Hello Kitty Girl TA was literally coloring pictures of Hello Kitty and writing 'Happy 43st birthday daddie, I love you' that he would publicly display on his office door."

For the full history of the UCF Professor and his Hello Kitty TA, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.