TikTok Therapist Unusually Bree Lost Her Job After Going Viral on the App
Updated June 12 2023, 2:02 p.m. ET
As TikTok continues to grow, influencers have been able to grow their audience in a short amount of time. Many do this by showing off their OOTDs, reacting to wild recipes, or sharing their hot take on a trending topic. While using the social media app for personal gain isn’t usually a bad thing, it can cause influencers who are also living the 9-to-5 life some stress. At least, that was the case for one mental health professional.
When therapist Shabree Rawls on TikTok shared her thoughts on her account, @unusuallybree, she said she was fired. Since sharing her story on social media, the influencer has faced harmful backlash and threatened to leave the app altogether. Here’s what happened.
A TikTok therapist was fired after stating men will be single if they don’t go to therapy.
In August 2022, Unusually Bree posted a stitch of another influencer, @kierabreaugh, sharing an article from Psychology Today. The article was titled “The Rise of Lonely and Single Men” and stated that heterosexual men had less success dating women within the last few years due to women demanding more from relationships.
The video began with Kiera explaining the article before Unusually Bree cut her off and added her own thoughts, or “thots,” as she frequently puts on her platform.
During the stitch, Unusually Bree said the article eloquently explains what she has warned men about in the past. She said that men who followed the guidance of male relationship experts like the late Kevin Samuels will be “single” for the rest of their lives if they don’t improve their “communication” and “emotional intelligence skills.”
The TikToker’s initial video reached over 200,000 views on the app and went viral on Twitter. Soon after it aired, many users shared how offended they were by Unusually Bree’s comments, with one even calling her the “worst therapist of all time.” Still, the therapist stood ten toes down on her opinion and continued making more videos supporting her take, even referring to men as “dusty b---hes” in another viral TikTok.
One week after her post went viral, Unusually Bree released another video. In the post, she stated that the social media backlash she received, which she said was mostly from Black men, caused other outlets to pick up her story. Simultaneously, several users threatened to call her job and demanded she gets fired from the employer, which ultimately happened.
“I posted a video on Monday telling men that their ‘dusty’ behavior is only hurting them and that they would benefit from emotional intelligence, and I s--t you not, by Friday, [I] didn’t have employment.”
Unusually Bree said her TikTok received more punishment because she is a Black therapist.
After Unusually Bree lost her job, the influencer apologized on her platform. She then continued sharing her negative online experience on her page and other outlets.
In September 2022, Bree spoke to Refinery 29 about how the backlash from her community hurt her and how she felt unprotected by the people she tried to uplift through her content.
“I find it imperative to reclaim my name and let people know that there is a real person behind my content,” Bree said. “A lot of people have a hard time separating @unusuallybree the content creator from Shabree the therapist and Shabree the artist. I can only show up as my full self, but the internet does not allow you to emote or be angry without judgment.”
“A lot of the reason I was punished online was because of my delivery,” she added. “It wasn’t what I said, and it was how I said it. But I was just being my true self, and if you follow me, you know that's how I speak. My approach can be abrasive, but I’m just a direct speaker. However, nothing I said in that video was wrong. There are other non-Black therapists and content creators who have said the same thing I said but received none of the backlash.”
The influencer threatened to quit TikTok months after being fired from her job.
Since her firing, Unusually Bree has continued posting her take on relationships on her TikTok account, which has over 300,000 followers. However, in June 2023, the content creator shared an emotional video titled, “I think I'mma quit [sic].”
In the video, Bree admitted that she felt exhausted by her work, stating that posting content has been “sucking the soul” out of her body.
“I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my life, my living, my safety because I just want people to feel better,” she said in the video as she’s crying.
Following the emotional 9-minute post, Unusually Bree received many heartfelt comments from fans urging her to take a break if she felt it was best for her mental health.
Fortunately, the influencer’s hiatus didn’t last long, as she confirmed to her followers in another video that she was only “thinking about” quitting. Bree also thanked her community for their unwavering support and even offered to “tongue kiss” them if she could.
