Khabane "Khaby" Lame (; born 9 March 2000) is a Senegalese-born Italian social media personality. He is known for his

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

videos in which he silently mocks overly complicated

life hack A life hack (or life hacking) is any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. The term was primarily used by computer experts who suffer from information overload or those with a p ...

videos. As of January , Lame is the most-followed user on TikTok.

Early life

Lame was born in Senegal on 9 March 2000. His family moved to a

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

complex in

Chivasso Chivasso (; pms, Civass) is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin. Chivasso has a population of about 27,000. It is situated on the left bank of the Po river, near the inf ...

, Italy, when he was one year old. He has three siblings. He studied in Italian schools until he was fourteen, when his parents decided to temporarily send him to study in a Quranic school near

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

. Lame worked as a

CNC machine Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a ...

operator at a factory near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, before getting laid off in March 2020.

Career

After he was laid off during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Lame began posting on

. His early videos showed him dancing and watching video games. 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. In April 2021, he surpassed Gianluca Vacchi as the most-followed Italian on TikTok, and, in July 2021, he surpassed

Addison Rae {{Infobox person , name = Addison Rae , image = Addison Rae - Pandora 2021 3.jpg , alt = , caption = Rae in an interview for Pandora in 2021 , birth_name = Addison Rae Easterlin ...

to become the second most-followed personality overall. In August 2021, Lame appeared as a co-star for

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

's announcement of

Manuel Locatelli Manuel Locatelli (born 8 January 1998) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Juventus, on loan from Sassuolo, and the Italy national team. After coming through the club's youth system, Locatelli made his pro ...

. In September 2021, he attended the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

as a special guest for the first screening of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

film '' Lost Illusions'' by

Xavier Giannoli Xavier Giannoli (born 7 March 1972) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. In 2010, he was named a Chevalier in the ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order ...

. In January 2022, Lame signed a multi-year partnership with

Hugo Boss Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...

and was featured in the #BeYourOwnBoss campaign. On 22 June 2022, Lame became TikTok's most-followed creator, surpassing

Charli D'Amelio Charli Grace D'Amelio ( ; born May 1, 2004) is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over 10 years before starting her social media career in 2019, when she started posting dance videos on the video-sharing pl ...

with 142.1 million followers.

Public image

Taylor Lorenz Taylor Lorenz (born October 21 1984–1987) is an American journalist for ''The Washington Post''. She was previously a technology reporter for ''The New York Times'', ''The Daily Beast'', and ''Business Insider'', and social media editor for ...

and Jason Horowitz of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' attributed Lame's success to his "universal exasperated

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

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". 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". As of January , 6 of the 25 most-liked videos on TikTok are his.

Personal life

Khaby Lame is a practicing

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. Lame announced his engagement to Zaira Nucci in October 2020. Lame has lived in Italy since he was one year old and is fluent in Italian. He was a Senegalese citizen living in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

with his agent until August 2022, when he became an

Italian citizen Italian nationality law is the law of Italy governing the acquisition, transmission and loss of Italian citizenship. Like many continental European countries it is largely based on '' jus sanguinis''. It also incorporates many elements that are ...

after the Italian Undersecretary of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

Carlo Sibilia Carlo Sibilia (born 7 February 1986) is an Italian politician who has been an MP from the Five Star Movement since 2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classifie ...

announced that he would be granted citizenship. Lame said he "always felt Italian" and has previously stated that he "did not need a piece of paper" to define himself as such.

Filmography

Lame has a voice cameo in the Italian-dubbed version of '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' (2022).

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lame, Khaby 2000 births Senegalese TikTokers Living people Senegalese Muslims Italian Muslims People from Chivasso Muslim comedians Senegalese emigrants to Italy Italian male comedians Senegalese comedians