Media personality Ciru Muriuki has taken issue with musician Bahati and socialite Vera Sidika over their recent clout-chasing theatrics.
This comes at a time when most Kenyan artistes have been coming up with ridiculous gimmicks to gain attention before releasing new music.
Ciru Muriuki on clout chasers
In an update on her Instagram page, Muriuki lamented that clout-chasing kills talents and such behavior should be reversed.
The TV presenter asked Kenyans to shun from such musicians and instead support those producing amazing content.
“There are so many incredibly talented Kenyan artiste spanning different genres; gengetone, hip-hop, house and reggae. So many, but a few people have set the tone for this industry. The tone being screw talent, we will only rely on gimmicks,” Muriuki said.
Ciru Muriukii faults Kenyans
The media personality also took issue with Kenyans claiming that they give clout-chasers a platform at a time when they don’t need it.
Muriuki referred to Sidika’s case where she claimed that she underwent a surgery to reduce weight only to release a music video.
“We have given clout chasers a platform they do not deserve. Like now we have spent a week talking about somebody’s booty only to realise all this was a gimmick to drum up publicity before releasing (quite frankly, mediocre) song,” she stated.
She also hit out at Bahati and his wife Diana Marua albeit not mentioning names.
“A certain couple went out of their social media platforms with the exception of a couple of cryptic posts that had their fans really worried about them, then boom, a song is released,” Muriuki added.
Ciru Muriuki vs Ciru Muiruri
In 2019, Muriuki noted that she was not going to change her Twitter handle from @CiruMuriuki to @WanjikuWaMuriuki because Muiruri has an issue with her [Ciru’s] name sounding so similar to hers [Ciku’s].
A Twitter user had advised Muriuki to change her Twitter handle to settle the identity debate, which has now gotten ugly on social media.
“[I am] changing no s**t. Aumwe kabisa [Let her bottle up her frustrations],” Muriuki responded.
On her side, Muiruri said Muriuki shouldn’t feel she is more of a brand than her, given she found her in the industry and chose to adopt a name nearly-similar to hers despite being advised against doing so.
“Someone comes onto the scene many, many, many years later, and uses a name similar to mine, and now cries victim every time she is mistaken for me
“I refuse to be used as a punching bag when you found me here, minding my own business. If you want your brand to stand out, the first logical step is not to ride on someone else’s name and then cry foul when it no longer suits you,” Muiruri said.
