Photography is pretty popular on TikTok, one trend in particular sees photographers approaching random people out in public to do a professional photoshoot, it’s pretty wholesome and usually the person being photographed comes away feeling pretty positive and confident.
Sherif Shama is an incredibly popular street photographer on TikTok, he has 1.5 million followers on the app and his work regularly gets millions of views. Like most photographers who make content on TikTok, Shama seems like a pretty wholesome guy, he often approaches people in tourist spots and will ask them if he can take their photo. The results are pretty incredible and it’s gotten him lots of positive attention.
But appearances can be deceiving, and a woman by the name of Kenzie Swaine claims Shama put her through a horrific experience.
TikTok predator accusations
A video posted by Swaine last week has received almost nine million views after she accused Shama of trying to assault her. Swaine recounts the experience she had with Shama which she claims happened last year. According to her, Shama approached her in Milan, Italy, he asked her for a photoshoot which she obliged. Afterwards he asked to meet with her later that evening to which Swaine agreed.
It wasn’t until it came time to go home when the whole night took a turn for the worse. Swaine claims that Shama was insistent on coming back to her place of residence. In fact he was beyond insistent, he was straight up harassing her. Eventually she called an Uber, but he jumped in with her before she could stop him.
Outside the place she was staying Swaine tried to convince Shama to leave her alone for a further 20 minutes before she tried to open the gate and slip in before he could follow her. He then tried to pull the gate open while she was on the other side, desperately trying to pull it shut. It’s a pretty traumatic experience but unfortunately there are creeps like this out there.
Of course, this is an accusation; the only thing that can be proven at the moment is the fact that the photoshoot she speaks of did indeed happen. At the time of writing it’s still up on Shama’s page. Of course, that doesn’t prove that anything more happened that night, but we at least know for certain that Swaine and Shama did meet.
Shama’s response
If Swaine’s story is to be believed then it certainly sounds like Shama was planning something incredibly sinister that night. It’s lucky she got away. Shama has responded to the allegations, denying Swaine’s version of events and sharing a comment from her in which she tells him she had a great time.
Swaine responded claiming that she was trying to trick him into posting the videos so she would at least have proof that she and him did hang out. She also shares other messages from Shama which she claims proves her side of the story.
Of course, right now it’s hard to tell if these accusations from Swaine will have any consequences or lead to anything else for Sherif Shama. Right now his TikTok is receiving comments from many people disgusted by his alleged actions, but that’s about it.
