Recently, a viral storm hit TikTok and YouTube after Cooking with Ka — a creator with over two million followers — posted about her financial struggles. In her post, she confessed that she used to make a lot of money, but now it’s all gone. “I went from making so much money to struggling in every way,” she wrote. “The truth is we’re all just one to three missed paychecks away from severe financial hardship.”

Naturally, that statement caught everyone’s attention. People started talking, speculating, and digging into what really happened. Some believed her, others doubted the story — and soon enough, hundreds of creators and fans were reacting online.

One popular reaction explained it like this: when people start making big money, they often raise their expenses to match. They move into nicer apartments, buy expensive cars, start helping family, or relocate to high-cost cities like Los Angeles or New York. When income suddenly drops, that lifestyle becomes hard to maintain — even for viral creators.

But others wondered, how could Cooking with Ka be broke? She still gets millions of views. So where’s the money going?

That’s when people noticed something interesting — many of her videos use trending sounds or copyrighted music. On TikTok, if you use someone else’s sound, you can’t get paid. To qualify for monetization, the sound must be original, the video must be over 60 seconds, and viewers need to watch at least five seconds. Short, sound-based skits — which make up much of Ka’s content — often don’t meet those requirements.

So, while her videos rack up millions of views, they don’t necessarily generate real income.

Another issue is brand sponsorships. Ka’s content often features dancing, twerking, and bold visuals. While that appeals to a huge audience, many mainstream brands — like cookware or food companies — hesitate to collaborate with creators who have more “risqué” or “street” personas. As a result, she misses out on high-paying brand deals that other, more traditional cooking influencers might get.

For a while, the “Ka is broke” rumor seemed to make sense. But then, new information came out. Someone asked her directly if she was struggling — and she replied, “Not at all.”

Turns out, the original “I’m broke” post wasn’t even hers. It was fake — a photoshopped image using someone else’s tweet, made to look like Ka had written it. The real post came from another creator named One of None. Someone had simply replaced the name and photo with Ka’s.

That should’ve been the end of the story. But of course, it wasn’t.