Content creator Apoorva Mukhija, known online as Rebel Kid, says she has moved out of India and is now living in New York to pursue an MBA. "So I don't live in India anymore," she said on the podcast Untriggered By AminJaz, according to Hindustan Times.

The move comes about a year after the India's Got Latent controversy upended her career and, by her own account, left her mentally and professionally drained. It matters beyond one creator's decision: Mukhija's exit is a visible sign of how India's biggest social media names are reacting to a content economy that runs on outrage cycles, per The Indian Express.

What Apoorva Mukhija Said About The Move?

Mukhija told the podcast she is now living in a dorm and returning to student life. "I have already moved to New York. I have travelled quite a lot, and when I landed in New York, I was like I really want to live here. There's something about this city, it's so fast, everyone is so well-dressed, the food is great, and I love the architecture," she said, per Hindustan Times.

She applied to just one college in the city and got in, according to the report. Tellingly, she has said the MBA will not really help her content creation career, framing it instead as a personal reset, as reported by The Indian Express. Her stated goal is simpler: meet new people and build a social circle beyond fellow creators.

The India's Got Latent fallout that preceded it

Mukhija's relocation follows the fallout from her appearance on comedian Samay Raina's show India's Got Latent in February 2025, where explicit remarks triggered public backlash and led to the show's cancellation, The Indian Express reported. She later returned to the public eye, but the comeback did little to end the scrutiny.

The toll was severe. Apoorva Mukhija had earlier said she experienced suicidal thoughts during the row because of relentless online hate, according to Mid-day. That detail helps explain why, a year on, she describes herself as done with what she calls the cycle of being cancelled and making a comeback, a pattern Hindustan Times and Zoom TV Entertainment both linked directly to her decision to leave India.

Cancellation fatigue and a creator economy under strain

Mukhija's New York move is not a sudden pivot. In October 2025, she told Moneycontrol she wanted to retire from content creation altogether and criticised how commercialised the industry had become, saying she did not know who had pushed the business so far. That comment, made months before she confirmed the relocation, suggests the fatigue had been building well before this podcast appearance.

It also lands amid a wider conversation about what the creator economy actually pays and who it burns out. TUI has reported on creator Ranveer Allahbadia's claim that only a small fraction of creators make real money despite the industry's glossy image, a tension that sits right alongside Mukhija's decision to step back into a classroom instead of chasing another viral cycle. Other public figures have described similar exhaustion after being publicly targeted; actor Rhea Chakraborty, for instance, has spoken about feeling cancelled by society after a different controversy entirely, pointing to a pattern where public backlash in India pushes people toward reinvention or exit rather than resolution.

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The Unresolved Question: Which University?

One detail remains unconfirmed. In June 2026, IndiaTimes reported widespread online speculation that Mukhija had secured admission to Columbia University, but noted the claim was based on social media chatter rather than her own confirmation. A separate profile the same day named Columbia without citing direct sourcing from her. Neither Hindustan Times nor The Indian Express, both reporting on her actual podcast comments in August 2026, named a specific institution.

Until Mukhija or an academic source confirms the exact college, the university name should be treated as unverified, even as the core facts of her relocation and her reasoning are well established through her own words.

What Happens Next?

For now, Apoorva Mukhija says she is embracing dorm life and a fresh start away from the platforms that made her famous. Whether her MBA marks a permanent step back from content creation, or simply a pause before another comeback, is something only her next public move will answer.