The voice actor behind GTA 5’s Franklin went viral after revealing his personal disagreement with famous Twitch steamer Kai Cenat, but the two stars are on good terms again.
Shawn ‘Solo’ Fonteno is the voice behind one of Grand Theft Auto’s most iconic characters, Franklin Clinton. He made an appearance on Kai Cenat’s Twitch stream as a special guest back in 2024, where he took the influencer on a tour of the neighborhoods in Los Angeles that appeared in the game’s fictional city of Los Santos.
However, Solo said this was likely the last stream he’d ever do with Cenat due to the broadcaster’s interaction with a young fan that happened during their outing.
In a September 2026 episode of the Dope As Usual podcast, Solo explained that Kai Cenat approached a young fan during the stream who came from a struggling family. According to Solo, Cenat had offered to buy the fan a motorcycle — but Solo says he never made good on that promise.
“This was a family that didn’t have much at all, bro,” he recalled. “It was probably 15 people living in a one-bedroom home. I know these people, and I help them out at times. …Kai was cool, cordial with them, talking to them, ‘What you want? What can I get you?’ And the kid was like, ‘I wanna bike, can you get me a bike?’ He said, ‘What kind of bike?’ and the kid said, ‘A motorcycle!’ He said, ‘We gon’ make it happen.’
“I persisted to keep calling after that… let about a week go by, and texted, texted, tried to call, ‘Hey man, honor that [promise] with this kid, bro. It’s just a bike. [It’d] probably be about a thousand dollars, twelve hundred dollars or less, I don’t know, but you gave that kid this promise. And now you’re making me look bad, because I brought you here, and you gave this kid that promise.’”
Solo said he even approached Kai’s friend and fellow streamer Fanum about the issue, who the actor says ignored him.
“I’m standing on it, man,” he continued. “I’ll look into any one of these cameras like, ‘Bro, you a f**ked up dude for that.’ To me. You’re a very f**ked up dude. I don’t give a f**k how you feel about it. To me, that was not cool. If I make a promise, especially to a kid, I’mma honor it.”
The podcast went viral, prompting a wave of backlash toward Kai Cenat for allegedly failing to keep his promise to the child. Fans were convinced that he and Solo now had bad blood as a result of this issue — but just a day later, Solo confirmed that he and Kai were on good terms once more.
Solo revealed the news in an Instagram comment on September 16, which he wrote in response to a clip from the podcast episode. “I just talked to Kai and it was an honest mistake and it’s fixed. Thanks @kaicenat,” he said.
GTA fervor is at an all-time high after Rockstar’s immensely-popular preview for Grand Theft Auto 6 aired on Netflix last month. Fans can’t wait for the highly-anticipated game to finally release in November, and with major music artists and platforms like Spotify dropping cheeky hints on social media and billboards across Los Angeles, it’s clear there’s a lot more in store as the clock ticks down to launch in two months.
Image Credits: Julian Hamilton / FilmMagic via Getty Images / YouTube: Dope As Usual
Virginia Glaze
News Editor
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
