Afcacia

Khaby Lame

Khabane “Khaby” Lame is a Senegalese-born Italian social media personality. Lame, 22, is currently the most popular Tiktoker globally with a mindboggling 148.3 million followers. He stormed to the top of the Tiktok list in June this year, toppling American star Charli D’Amelio.

The hotshot comedian, who is based in Italy, creates videos about other popular videos. The script is to reenact or mimic other videos, performing them with comical facial expressions that have quickly resonated with people across all corners of the globe. And this has catapulted him to the Tiktok chats.

The fact that he does not use any language in his videos is apparently what makes his posts to be universally understood. Nothing like language barrier stands in his way! So his social media content has been crossing borders like a wildfire set on reaching every corner of the world.

“I came up with the idea because I was seeing these videos circulating, and I liked the idea of bringing some simplicity to it,” Lame told CNN.

“The type of gesture came by chance, but the silence didn’t. I thought of a way to reach as many people as possible. And the best way was not to speak.”

Well from the surface, his performances do not look like something that can have the world spellbound. But looking at the followers, this is what the world wants and Lame is offering it in plenty and in the process basking in the glory of it all with tonnes of money flowing his way in torrents.

How did he discover this unique form of fame?

Lame, who was working in a factory in Turin, opened his account after being sent packing by his employer when Covid-19 struck and lockdown was imposed across Italy. At home and just sitting idle, he downloaded TikTok and started playing with it. He posted random videos such as of himself dancing, watching video games or doing comedy stunts.

This year is when he hit the jackpot and is now tapping his newfound stardom to rake in top dollar. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, Khaby could be earning between $98,561 and $147,842 per TikTok post.

In an interview with Fortune, the entertainer said he takes home up to $750,000 per clip. This year itself the content creator is estimated to earn around $10 million. He is already grabbing the attention of Hollywood where a studio is said to have paid him $750,000 for just one video clip.

In January 2022, the Tiktoker signed a massive deal with fashion firm Hugo Boss where he became the face for #BeYourOwnBoss campaign. At the Milan Fashion Week for Hugo Boss, he is said to have pocketed $450,000. He is also rubbing shoulders with top celebs such American rapper Snoop Dog, Italian football star Manuel Locatelli.

These are just the tip of his newfound career’s iceberg.

Lame’s is a classic rags-to-riches story, having immigrated to Italy with his parents and three siblings from Senegal in 2001.