A woman says her friend’s subtenant launched a GoFundMe calling her evil and the landlord a slumlord after she didn’t renew their NYC lease

A New York TikToker says her best friend’s short-term roommate turned to GoFundMe and a public smear campaign after learning the two friends planned to live together. In a video posted to her account, @kaylendoesstuff, a creator named Kaylen laid out an apartment lease dispute that she claims spiraled once her friend Marlyn decided to move out.

The clip has drawn over five million views, according to Daily Dot. Kaylen says Marlyn had been the leaseholder on the apartment for three years. About a month before the lease was up for renewal, Marlyn’s longtime roommate moved out and found a subletter, a woman named Emily who is known online as EK.

According to Kaylen, Marlyn told Emily she would not renew the lease with her and offered two options, which were to leave before the lease ended or take over the apartment as the new leaseholder while Marlyn looked elsewhere. Emily moved in about a month before the lease expired. When Marlyn later found a place with Kaylen and shared the news, Emily allegedly reacted badly.

Kaylen claims the GoFundMe painted her best friend as a villain

Kaylen claims that is when Emily started a GoFundMe to raise rent money, describing Marlyn as an evil person who had traumatized her. The fundraiser also reportedly called the landlord an evil slumlord. However, the TikToker describes the landlord as patient and kind, saying he let Emily stay without pay stubs so she could find a roommate who would help her qualify for the lease.

The New Yorker also compared her own path with Emily’s, as both women are from Georgia and moved to New York City about a year ago. Kaylen says she worked two jobs to secure her own apartment, while Emily earns most of her money selling handmade clay keychains. She claims Emily went through more than six sublease arrangements in one year and still couldn’t qualify for an apartment alone.

Most commenters sided with Kaylen and her best friend. One viewer wrote that EK “has got me siding with a landlord,” while another called six subleases in a single year insane. A third argued that GoFundMe needs a better review process for fundraisers like this one, and several others asked why Emily expected to stay in an apartment she had lived in for about a month.

Not everyone took the TikToker’s account without questions. One viewer who said they were not on EK’s side still asked why Marlyn moved a subletter in for only a month, as it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. The fallout echoes other roommate disputes that ended friendships, including one where a roommate repeatedly delayed rent payments for weeks.

Another commenter said the situation proved why it’s worth hearing both sides of a story, and some viewers pointed to videos Emily has posted about the dispute on her own account. One commenter claimed Emily had shared the same kind of housing story in previous years. However, that claim came from the comment section rather than from Kaylen, and the TikToker did not raise it in her video.

With both women posting about the apartment, the back-and-forth over the lease and the fundraiser may continue in follow-up videos from either side in the weeks ahead.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Emily’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Kaylen’s TikTok video.