ACCORDING to the Cambridge Dictionary, to ‘fall out of favour’ means to lose the popularity, approval or support that you once had from a person, group or the general public. It applies when people, trends, ideas or products stop being liked or trusted.
One social media influencer, Mekyun (real name Wee Yun Nee), most definitely seems to have fallen out of favour with her core audience.
Editor’s Note: A popular Malaysian Chinese social media influencer and actress, Mekyun is widely famous for her cheerful personality and remarkable fluency in the Kelantanese Malay dialect (Baso Kelaté) which earns her the affectionate moniker “Mek Cino Kelate” among her vast Malay fanbase.
This sudden decline in popularity stems from the 29-year-old’s emotive and outspoken views on the recent controversy surrounding the canine death of Rocky in Port Klang.
The content creator had blasted those involved in the capture and killing of the dog, insinuating they were heartless barbarians as no religion whether it is Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism has taught its followers to be cruel t animals. She called to stop “normalising cruelty to animals”.
As can be seen from the Threads post by @del.pierox, there are those who vehemently disagree with her stance. This poster was unimpressed by what he perceived to be a lopsided perspective which was unsupported by facts.
This poster even went as far to say “once a Chinese, always a Chinese”, making it clear why he felt that Mekyun had made those statements.
Underlining his disgust, he declared he had unfollowed Mekyun on social media.
Branding in jeopardy
Perhaps noting this shift in tide among her followers, Mekyun issued a grovelling apology on Threads for jumping the gun without verifying the facts. She had also deleted the clip which had so infuriated her many followers.
Taking it as a lesson learnt, the famed Tik Toker apologised for making assumptions based on unverified sources that led to the video that have upset so many of her fans.
Her letter of apology has generated 13.8K likes, 2.9Kcomments, 843 re-posts and more than 1K shares, underlining that this was a trending topic.
Alas, Mekyun’s retraction did not seem to appease many netizens who flooded her Thread post with less than complementary remarks.
As noted by one unimpressed observer, social media influencers seem to need to ride on current hot topics to stay in the spotlight. “Just stay in your own lanes” was his pertinent advice.
There was even a threat of legal action being taken for her views.
There were those who keenly pointed out that the majority of her followers were Malay and perhaps Mekyun might have misjudged the mood on this particular topic.
Some commenters felt she was too swift in wanting to speak her mind on the topic and now, conveniently, deleted the clip after facing backlash.
They urged Mekyun to “own the mistake with the same energy”, observing that a mere written apology didn’t quite match the ferocity of her condemnation in the original video.
Again, the insinuation was that the clamour for content and exposure got the better of this previously well-liked social media personality.
One disappointed follower noted that it was a shame that Mekyun had spoken out rashly thus her brand name which had been cultivated over many years was destroyed in a mere blink of an eye. “Best apologise to the brother (whom Mekyun singled out as the perpetrator) face-to-face” was this commenter’s advice.
The fall-out from this entire Rocky affair has been messy, not least for popular personalities on social media who in the heat of moment may have misread the room.
A mis-timed or ill-informed remark could erase years of carefully cultivated goodwill. Whether the apology from Mekyun is enough to appease her followers remains to be seen. – Aug 4, 2026
