Chef Who Went Viral for Confrontation with Influencer Breaks Silence

Chef Luke Sung is breaking his silence after a TikTok creator accused him of instigating an alleged aggressive confrontation at Kis Cafe.

The food influencer, who’s known by her @itskarlabb handle, went viral on the social media platform for documenting her alleged aggressive confrontation with the former co-owner, who she claimed was displeased with the fact that she only had 15,000 followers at the time.

Less than one week after the incident, Karla — who initially alleged on TikTok that her interaction with the chef became hostile, despite her expressed excitement about their collab — received a public apology from Luke, who shared an Instagram statement on the now-closed restaurant’s account.

“Luke Sung asked us to post this on his behalf because he has no public social media pages. He is, however, no longer affiliated with the restaurant in any way or a co-owner,” the caption of the post, uploaded to Kis Cafe’s Instagram, reads.

“Hi everyone- I am Luke Sung (previous chef of Kis Cafe). It was important for me to first apologize to Karla privately and step away from Kis cafe before publicly apologizing,” the post began.

“Karla – I am truly sorry for my actions towards you. I was condescending, hurtful, and intimidating. You did not deserve to be made to feel less than or unimportant, nobody does. Regardless, I thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson in kindness and respect,” the statement said.

“There are no excuses to be made, and l’ve decided it’s time for me to step away from Kis cafe permanently and in all capacities,” he concluded slide one of four.

On the second slide of the public statement, Luke said that he wants “to be clear” that the “responsibility of this whole situation” was his alone and that his behavior “should not be a reflection on anyone else who works there” or “anyone who is related” to him.

He added, “I truly care about my staff and am devastated that my actions have impacted both them and their families. I have worked with many of the employees at the restaurant for years and they are incredible people who don’t deserve to suffer due to my behavior.”

To conclude, Luke said the last person he wanted to apologize to was his daughter, Isabelle.

“I am sorry I put you in this position, and am ashamed that you had to be the one to own up for my mistake,” he wrote on slide three. “All I have ever wanted to do is give you the opportunity to create a better life for yourself than the one I grew up with, and I’ve failed you in the worst way.”

“I came to this country to give all of my kids the best chance to work hard toward their goals, and now I’ve given the public nothing but a reason to tear them down for my actions,” he continued.

On the fourth and final slide, Luke apologized to the rest of his family and everyone involved.

“I am sorry for disrespecting all of your efforts and hard work to build your careers,” he wrote. “To Karla, my kids, and everyone else in the hospitality industry, I hope you will accept my apology and thank you for taking the time to listen to me.”

Karla uploaded her now-viral TikTok video recounting the events on Wednesday, July 23. The clip has 21.4M views to date — and the influencer (whose account had 15,000 at the time) has since racked up 382.5K followers.

In the initial clip, Karla started recording herself after she said she “just left a restaurant collaboration crying.” 

“He is not having it, saying to the host that he shouldn’t have invited me and that this was a mistake and that this was bad,” she continued in reference to their discussion about her follower count, noting that they still weren’t addressing her despite speaking loudly in the tight space.

Once she finally made an introduction with the chef, Karla alleged that their interaction became hostile fast.

“He says, ‘Did you do any research on this restaurant? Do you know what we do? Do you know who we are?'” Karla recalled in the clip. Though the wine bar is still “really new,” she told the chef what she was able to find out ahead of the visit.

After allegedly accusing Karla of failing to thoroughly research the wine bar, she said he looked her up on TikTok and watched some of her content at “full volume” in the wine bar.

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She claimed he then told her that her videos are not “at the level at which he wants his restaurant to be represented,” Karla said in her post, also noting that he told her that her audience and followers “are not the kind of people that are going to be at his restaurant.”

Karla didn’t name the man or the restaurant in her initial video, though TikTok users were quick to put the pieces together. The Kis Cafe later released a statement of their own on their Instagram in the wake of the incident.

“Our chef’s behavior was unacceptable and he is no longer part of the team as a co-owner, a chef or in any other way. As of this post, he (Luke) has reached out to the creator with a personal apology,” Kis Cafe’s post began in part, adding, “That behavior does not reflect the remainder of our team.”

The statement on behalf of the restaurant also added an “update” to the caption, clarifying that Luke “did not get fired from the team” as he “left of his own accord.”

Karla, meanwhile, posted a follow-up TikTok video, which now has over 5.4M views and half a million likes. Her initial video also caught the attention of some major influencers, like Alex Cooper and Trisha Paytas, who shared words of support.