A man filmed for a ‘random act of kindness’ TikTok has responded – and he’s ‘traumatised’

A man who featured in a viral “random act of kindness” TikTok has spoken about his experience. And, guess what? He really didn’t want to be part of some content creator’s ego trip.

TikTokers have been filming themselves “being nice” to strangers. Obviously, not the MOST toxic of the trends, but something about it seems particularly insincere. Creators have been known to buy shopping for others, gift them large amounts of money – one person even took an entire family to Disneyland for free.

Let’s be honest, it’s not really about the people on the receiving end of these “kind acts.” It’s always about the TikTokers, and them coming across as internet saints. Modern day good samaritans, if you will.

But, finally, a recipient *has* come out to shoot the trend down. And, frankly, he didn’t hold back.

A refugee from Afghanistan, who wishes to be known only as Esa, didn’t consent to being filmed when a well-known TikToker performed his “random act of kindness” on him. When he found out the video had been posted, he was “shocked.”

The creator – who has around 7.2 million followers – filmed himself paying for Esa’s shopping. The video was set to a lo-fi version of Dido’s Thank You, which was supposed to make it more impactful for some reason. He’s known for only posting “random acts of kindness” TikToks, jumping on the trend back in April. The video with Esa has 6.1 million views.

According to ABC News, Esa said the video makes him look like “I’m a kind of desperate person who needs help, or I’m a beggar. I have friends and family around the world. They’ve been calling me saying, ‘you need help’ and ‘what happened to you? Someone’s paying for your food.’ I was a bit traumatised.”

The TikToker responded to ABC News’ request for comment, saying: “I’d just like to apologise. It was nowhere near my intention to offend him in any way.”

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