President William Ruto's son George Ruto has set social media ablaze after making a surprise appearance in a TikTok live session and dropping a gift that stopped the broadcast in its tracks.
TikToker Ann Bree and her friend were in the middle of a live session when a notification popped up that neither of them saw coming.
Someone had sent them a TikTok Lion gift, one of the most expensive virtual presents the platform offers.
Before the two women could fully process what had happened, George built the anticipation himself, typing in the live chat to ask whether they were ready for his gift before sending it through.
When they checked the profile behind the generous gesture, the surprise deepened. The account belonged to George Ruto's verified page, a platform with tens of thousands of followers that he uses to share updates about his lifestyle, projects, and business ventures.
The TikTok Lion gift carries a price tag that sits between KSh 33,000 and KSh 52,000 depending on exchange rates and regional pricing, making it the kind of gesture that most Kenyans could not contemplate even on a good month.
The moment went viral almost immediately and the reactions it drew were as divided as Kenya's political mood.
One camp praised George for using his platform to support local content creators, seeing it as a young man choosing to invest in the creative economy his father's government has made much noise about championing.
The other camp was far less impressed. With fuel at Ksh 214 a litre, protesters in the streets, and families cutting meals to survive, spending up to KSh 52,000 on a TikTok animation struck many as a tone deaf display at the worst possible time.
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