Khaby Lame

Khabane "Khaby" Lame ([kaban la:m]; born 9 March

2000) is a Senegalese-born Italian social media
personality. He is known for his TikTok videos in which he
silently mocks overly complicated life hack videos. As of
October 2022, Lame is the most-followed user on TikTok.
[1]

Early life
Lame was born in Senegal on 9 March 2000. His family
moved to a public housing complex in Chivasso, Italy, when he was one year old.[2] He
has three siblings. He studied in Italian schools until he was fourteen, when his parents
decided to send him to study temporarily in a Quranic school near Dakar.[3] Lame
worked as a CNC machine operator at a factory near Turin, before getting laid off in
March 2020.[4][5][6]

Career
After he was laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lame began posting on TikTok.
[4]
His early videos showed him dancing and watching video games.[6] He rose to
popularity with his video responses in the form of TikTok's "duet" and "stitch" features to
videos depicting complicated "life hacks", in which he performs the same task in a
simple way, without saying anything, followed by a trademark hand gesture. [5] In April
2021, he surpassed Gianluca Vacchi as the most-followed Italian on TikTok, and, in July
2021, he surpassed Addison Rae to become the second most-followed personality
overall.[7][8] In August 2021, Lame appeared as a co-star for Juventus F.C.'s
announcement of Manuel Locatelli.[9][10] In September 2021, he attended the Venice Film
Festival as a special guest for the first screening of French film Lost Illusions by Xavier
Giannoli.[11] In January 2022, Lame signed a multi-year partnership with Hugo
Boss[12] and was featured in the #BeYourOwnBoss campaign.[13][14]
On 22 June 2022, Lame became TikTok’s most-followed creator, surpassing Charli
D'Amelio with 142.1 million followers.[1][15]

Public image
Taylor Lorenz and Jason Horowitz of The New York Times attributed Lame's success to
his "universal exasperated everyman quality" and described his rise to fame as different
from most TikTok stars in being "entirely organic". Samir Chaudry, the founder of The
Publish Press, a newsletter focused on the creator economy, stated that Lame's appeal
derived from his emphasizing "authenticity over production" and "not trying too hard".
[5]
Christina Ferraz, the founder of American marketing agency Thirty6Five, stated, "His
exasperation is relatable, and feelings are universal." Lame has credited his popularity
to his humorous facial expressions and his silence, which he has described as "a way to
reach as many people as possible".[16] As of October 2021, 8 of the 25 most-liked videos
on TikTok are his.[17]
Personal life
Khaby Lame is a practicing Muslim.[18][19] Lame announced his engagement to Zaira
Nucci in October 2020.[20]
Lame has lived in Italy since he was one year old and is fluent in Italian. He was
a Senegalese citizen living in Milan with his agent until August 2022, when he became
an Italian citizen in Chivasso after the Italian Undersecretary of the Ministry of the
Interior Carlo Sibilia announced that he would be granted citizenship.[6][21][22] Lame said
he "always felt Italian"[23] and has previously stated that he "did not need a piece of
paper" to define himself as such.[5]