A teen busker was reduced to tears in the street after a bloke who claimed to have 'worked with Diana Ross' reviewed her performance - brutally telling her 'some people have it… you don't'. Mia Kirkland was busking in a city centre and said the first two hours of her set went well, earning her praise and even flowers from the appreciative audience.
But two hours into her set on St Helen's Square in York, North Yorkshire, on July 6th a white-haired man clutching a jigsaw puzzle approached her and gave unsolicited advice about her performance. The bloke, who claimed to have previously worked with the likes of Motown legend Diana Ross, cruelly told the 18-year-old 'some people have it… you don't'.
Even when Mia walked away, the elderly critic followed her and it was only when she said 'that's nice, thank-you, have a lovely day' that he appeared to leave her alone. Footage, live-streamed to her 300,000 TikTok followers, shows Mia trying to compose herself while wiping away tears and a woman's voice can be heard gently saying 'don't cry'.
The clip has racked up nearly 12million views on TikTok and Mia said she thinks the man thought her an 'easy target' due to being a woman apparently alone. Mia, from York, North Yorkshire, said: "He was trying to mumble so that other people couldn't hear it, but he said 'some people have it and you don't.'
"I started walking away and he was saying he knows what he's talking about because he's worked with Diana Ross and [started] naming other artists. He kept following me and then as soon as my mum stood up and came over he left. So the only reason he was doing it was because he thought I was on my own.
"Then as soon as he'd spoken to me I said to my mum, 'my day's just ruined now. I don't want to keep going.' It was only earlier that I'd had flowers and loads of kind words, but it's hard not to let people like that ruin your day.
"It's just a bit presumptuous of him to think that he could get away with it because I'm a young woman on my own." Video footage shows Mia preparing to sing Lady Gaga's 'Million Reasons' before a man approaches her and and appears to say 'there are some people who have it…you don't. You need to add variations, you're on the same plane all the time'.
As Mia walked away from the man he went on to say 'I don't know what you sang on the way but I used to work with Diana Ross'. Mia, who will begin studying at the London Centre of Contemporary Music next year, said she thought the man saw her as an easy target due to her being a young woman apparently on her own.
The aspiring singer said that while she enjoys a great deal of support from audiences, she's learned to anticipate the odd harsh critic but won't tolerate 'intimidating' behaviour. Mia said: "I've had so many experiences of people being weird with me - I had to report a woman to the police for sending me hate mail - so this is normal for me.
"When I started I didn't think busking would be like that at all. But now that I've been doing it quite a while, every time I go out I have to prepare myself for someone who doesn't enjoy it coming up to me. I'm quite a shy person, and I've had to learn to not be. If someone had said that to me before I'd have probably said, 'oh okay, I'll stop then', but people can't just walk over me.
"I was speaking to other buskers that are friends of mine and we were saying how we'd never think of walking up to someone in the street and saying something bad about them. Even if you do think something's bad, you just move on.
"A common phrase buskers use for people coming up and complaining is 'the further away you are the quieter it gets'. If they walk away they won't hear it anymore." Despite being shaken by the encounter Mia said she's back out busking, and said it's highly unlikely her critic worked with Diana Ross.
Mia said: "I'm a little bit familiar with Diana Ross, but obviously she's not really my era. I don't think there's any truth in him saying he worked with Diana Ross, if he did he wouldn't come up to me and say something like that.
"Lots of people have said the closest he's probably got to her is listening to her in the shower. Most of the time people aren't mean but even when it's that one time it gets you all worried, it makes you anxious and on edge.
"I've only been busking once after it and I was so nervous about coming across him again or someone else saying something, but it was so lovely. I am not a confident person at all, but ever since this happened and the positive response I've had from lots of people has made me think, 'people like me, that's good!'."
