The Cooking With Kya TikTok account (@cookinwitkya) became embroiled in controversy after men started following her for the sexy videos, angering some women. Kya publishes fairly standard cooking videos on TikTok and Instagram, but with a twist—she dresses in revealing outfits, dances, and says things like “wake up and make your man breakfast before I do.”
@doliestv Cookingwithkya Has The Women Upset With Her 🤦🏾♂️😳 #greenscreen #cookingwithkya #cookinwithkya ♬ original sound – DOLIE REACTS
These statements have racked up accusations of “pick-me” behavior and are at the center of the controversy ramping up on the platform.
Who is Kya?
Kya, full name Kya Renee according to her Instagram account, owns two popular social media pages in which she posts videos of herself making recipes before and after posing and dancing in cute and often tight or revealing clothing. Her earliest posts date back to July 2024.
@cookinggwithkya Hey yall follow my backup❤️#cookinwitkya ♬ original sound – cookingwithkya
Since then, Kya has gained over 800,000 followers on Instagram and over 872,000 on TikTok. In her videos, she often explicitly states that she is making her content for men and attempting to “steal” men from other women, though her playful demeanor suggests that she may not be completely serious.
What is the Cooking With Kya TikTok controversy?
Regardless of her demeanor, some women have taken offense to the non-food-related content of her posts. After gaining a lot of attention among male TikTok users, particularly with a since-deleted breakfast video published on Dec. 2, 2024, that received over 10 million views, Kya received backlash.
This appears to have started with videos of women saying that they “don’t get the hype,” often focusing on her appearance to imply she’s not attractive enough for all those views. This resulted in jealousy accusations, and other women came out to say that they stood with Kya and that ladies need to support, not attack, each other.
@danad1987 girls girl is a JOKE! lol #fy #fyp #CookingWithKya #overhyped #pretty #natural ♬ original sound – DD1987
As time went on, criticism began to focus on her alleged “pick-me” behavior. Dictionary.com defines a “pick-me girl” as “a woman who obsessively desires male approval and validation, often at the expense of other women.” Those who talk about how they perform any task or behavior better than other women—and therefore deserve to date their partners—are often hit with this label.
Kya responds to the hate
Kya began posting response videos to this criticism on Dec. 5, 2024, starting with a TikTok entry using a viral sound to hit back at those arguing that she should “stop saying you’re gonna steal someone’s man.” A whole lot of men didn’t help the situation by commenting that they were on their way to her or looking at their girlfriends and sighing.
@cookinwitkya Novody want charles that be having you crying and throwing up😩hes yours #cookinwitkya #cookinwithkya ♬ original sound – moo🫧💗💋🧚🏽♀️💅🏽😍™️
Since then, Kya has posted eight additional TikTok videos responding to the controversy, all of them dismissive and typically using viral sounds to make her point. One claimed that she had received threatening phone calls over her content.
Cooking With Kya TikTok memes
Fueling this controversy are the many meme videos that circulated on TikTok in early December about Cooking With Kya. This began with male users making thirst videos about her, and then the female TikTokers responding with footage of their disapproval over their boyfriends’ thirstiness.
Both the memes and controversy show no signs of slowing down yet, with Kya’s latest response video dating less than 24 hours before this article’s publishing.
Examples
@laylow1.1 Cookinwithkya made me wanna settle down and eat all day #blacklove ♬ original sound – Laylow11
@malaki.m4 #blowthisup #cookingwithkya #fyp #viral ♬ original sound – luvhurts3li
The Daily Dot has reached out to @cookinwitkya for comment via email.
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