Khaby Lame
Khabane Lame (born 9 March 2000) is a Senegalese-born social media personality based in Italy. He is known for his TikTok videos in which he silently mocks overly complicated life hack videos. As of 2022, Lame is the most-followed TikToker. Life and career. 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. He has three siblings. Lame worked as a CNC machine operator at a factory near Turin, before getting laid off in March 2020. Lame began posting on  TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic after getting laid off. His early videos showed him dancing and watching video games, and were mostly filmed in Italian and included Italian subtitles. He rose to popularity with his video responses in the form of TikTok's "duet" and "stitch" features to videos depicting overly complicated "life hacks", in which he performs the same task, but simple, without saying anything. In April 2021, he surpassed Gianluca Vacchi as the most-followed Italian TikToker, and, in July 2021, he surpassed Addison Rae to become the second most-followed TikToker. In August 2021, Lame appeared as  a co-star for Juventus F.C.'s announcement of Manuel Locatelli. In January 2022, Lame signed a multi year partnership with Hugo Boss and was featured in the #BeYourOwnBoss campaign. 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 as it was "entirely organic". Samir Chaudry, the founder of "The Publish Press", a newsletter focused on the creator economy, stated that Lame's appeal was due to him representing "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 own rise to fame to his humorous facial expressions and his silence, which he has described as "a way to reach as many people as possible". As of October 2021, 8 of the 25 most-liked videos on TikTok are his. Personal life. Khaby Lame is a Muslim. Lame announced his engagement to Zaira Nucci in October 2020. As of 2021, Lame lives in Milan as an expat with his agent. Although he has been living  in Italy since he was an infant, he is a Senegalese citizen and does not hold Italian citizenship. He has stated, "Sincerely, I don't need a piece of paper to define myself as Italian". His estimated net worth as of 2021 is between $1.3 million and $2.7 million.