Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has called out a section of Kenyans, seemingly mocking Raila Junior's appearance on social media.
Taking to X on Tuesday, Mwaura called the practice horrendous, as some people had reportedly created a social media challenge mocking him as a form of content creation.
"It's very wrong to mock someone based on their appearance due to an inherent condition. It's even horrendous to create a 'challenge' to body shame," Mwaura stated.
"Such behaviour reflects more on your poor character and upbringing in the name of content creation. Let's be human for once."
In a series of videos primarily posted on TikTok, some creators have been filming lip-syncing videos of the son of the fallen former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, distorting their mouths to resemble Junior's.
In most of these videos, seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the TikTokers are lip-syncing to Junior's speeches during the funeral service of his father.
Notably, however, most of these videos have received intense criticism by fellow TikTokers, with most commenters even banding together to report creators who film such content.
From TikTok comments to essays on Facebook, the videos have sparked outrage, with the government spokesperson being the latest to call them out.
Raila Junior's Condition
Junior suffers from Acoustic Neuroma, also known as Vestibular Schwannoma, which is a noncancerous and usually slow-growing tumour that develops on the main (vestibular) nerve leading from your inner ear to your brain.
This condition is a hereditary one, which he has previously admitted he inherited from his mother's side, and it is the reason why the left side of his face is paralysed.
In 2022, he debunked the belief that he had the condition Bell's Palsy, which is a condition that causes sudden weakness or paralysis of the muscles on one side of the face. It is the most common cause of unilateral facial paralysis and is temporary in most cases.
"I have what is called an Acoustic Schwannoma. This is a non-cancerous growth at the back of my brain," Junior clarified in the 2022 interview.
"What happens is that every human being has five ventricles, and if you show your hands, they come streaming from the back of every human being and mine presses against my third ventricle, which controls the nerves on the right side of my face. This is what caused the right side of my face to get paralysed."
