Kyte Baby Firing Controversy

Overview

The Kyte Baby Firing Controversy refers to backlash against the baby clothing company Kyte Baby after an employee, Marissa Hughes, who was ineligible for maternity time, was purportedly fired for asking to work from home after adopting a premature baby who was in the NICU nine hours from her workplace. The controversy began in mid-January 2024 after Hughes's sister posted a video about her termination, resulting in a boycott against Kyte Baby. In response, Kyte Baby's CEO Ying Liu posted a video apologizing for the firing. The apology was met with further backlash as some believed it was disingenuous and that she was reading from a script, resulting in a second apology for Liu in which she admits to reading from a script.

Background

On March 12th, 2023, Marissa and Rawley Hughes opened a GoFundMe^[1] fundraiser to raise money for the adoption costs of a baby after having tried and failed to conceive through IVF. They were looking to raise $50,000 for "agency fees, legal fees, court fees, birth mother living expenses, birth mother medical expenses, and birth mother counseling expenses."

On January 3rd, 2024, the page was updated with an announcement that the adoption agency called with the opportunity to adopt a premature baby born at 22 weeks gestation. They explain that the baby, Judah, will be in the NICU until the end of March and encourage donations for the NICU stay, also sharing a photo of themselves with the baby (shown below).

He is now 27 weeks + 6 days and as stable as he can be, given the circumstances. However, he is still so so fragile and there are various health concerns. Please pray for healing within his body and wisdom for his medical team. We need a miracle in this area. Micro preemies are rare, but 22 weekers weighing only 1 pound are even more rare.

Pray for his first parents. While making an adoption plan was their desire, it was not done with ease. They are experiencing so many emotions, and our hope is that God fills them with peace that surpasses all understanding. It is also possible we will have the opportunity to meet his birth parent(s) when we travel. Pray for wisdom and bonding between those involved.

Please pray for all our financial needs to be met. We still have pending adoption costs, his medical bills, and so many other things. NICU stays are expensive, and he will likely be discharged around end of March, closer to his original due date. We feel so confident God will meet every need while we are away from home.

On January 17th, 2024, TikToker^[2] @micropreemiejourney posted a video taken from a TikTok Live stream in which she claimed that her sister, Marissa Hughes, was fired from her job at Kyte Baby. First, she explains that Marissa has had three years of struggles getting pregnant, including multiple miscarriages and a near-death experience in December 2023 due to miscarriage complications where she nearly bled out. She then claims that Marissa asked to work from home after the near-death, but they refused to let her.

She then discusses how Marissa and Rawley got the call from the adoption agency in December 2023 to adopt the premature baby Judah. The couple drove to the hospital, nine hours away, after accepting the adoption. She says that Marissa called her workplace, Kyte Baby, to ask for time off work. Allegedly, they refused to give her maternity time off because she didn't give birth to the baby and she hasn't worked at the company long enough, eventually getting the company to give her a few weeks of working from home. She says that Kyte was aware that Marissa was in the process of adopting a baby.

Later that night, Marissa got a call from two women at Kyte Baby who were on the previous call, telling her she needed to be back after two weeks. Marissa asked for more time off because Judah is in the NICU until the end of March, asking if she can keep working from home from the NICU, but they refused, suggesting she'd be "relinquishing her rights" to work if she wasn't back in two weeks. The video gained over 476,000 views in two days (shown below).

Online Reactions

Backlash

Word of Marissa's firing spread online that day, inspiring many across social media, particularly on TikTok, to voice their support for Marissa and against Kyte Baby and its CEO, Ying Liu, with some vowing to boycott the company. Several posts were made on X^[3][4] that day about the situation, as well as numerous videos by TikTokers^[5][6] (examples shown below).

On January 18th, 2024, SportsKeeda^[7] reported on the situation, purporting that over $31,000 was donated to their GoFundMe page following the news.

Developments

CEO Ying Liu Apologizes

On January 18th, 2024, following massive backlash towards Kyte Baby, the CEO, Ying Liu, posted a video to the @kytebaby TikTok^[8] page apologizing for how they handled the situation with Marissa. In the video, she says she's been trying to reach out to Marissa to personally apologize, too. She insists that Kyte Baby strives to treat all babies equally, including the adoption community. She says it was her oversight that Marissa didn't feel supported. She claims that, "as offered to her originally," they would find her a position at the company whenever she decided to return to work. She also claims they'll be reviewing their HR policy to avoid situations like this in the future, wishing the Hughes family well. The video gained over 2.1 million views in a day (shown below).

The apology was met with further criticism from some commenters, who found it insincere. For example, TikToker Megan Powell posted, "I love the sincerity of an apology that's being read from a piece of paper," garnering over 19,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, Liu posted a second apology to the TikTok^[9] page, admitting that the comments were right and that the apology was insincere and scripted. She says that it was wrong how they treated Marissa and that she was the one who vetoed her remote work request, calling it a "terrible decision." She says it seemed impossible to her for Marissa to do her job remotely, but admits it was wrong. She then empathizes with the stress Marissa must feel to have a baby in the NICU.

Liu says she has "fully realized the impact" of her actions and regrets not reaching out to her about what happened until that day. She apologizes to Marissa, "the community" and says she's reviewing the company's procedures and policies. She then compliments Marissa as a worker and person and apologizes to her further, saying she will continue to pay her benefits and will allow her to work remotely until she is ready to come back. The video gained over 4.4 million views in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References