Khabane Lame (b. March 9, 2000) is a Senegalese-born internet personality from Italy. He is known for his TikToks in which he silently mocks illogical life hack videos. His TikToks have made him one of the most recognizable faces on social media today. As of 2022, Lame is the second most-followed TikToker.
Lame was born in Dakar, Senegal and his family moved to Italy when he was a 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, according to NYT.
During the initial months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lame began posting on TikTok. His early videos showed him dancing and watching video games, and were mostly filmed in Italian, with Italian subtitling. He rose to popularity with his video responses in the form of TikTok's "duet" and "stitch" features to videos depicting overly complicated and unrealistic "life hacks", in which he performs the same task in a much simpler way, without saying a word.
Taylor Lorenz and Jason Horowitz of The New York Times attributed Lame's overnight success to his "universal exasperated everyman quality" and described his rise to fame as different from most TikTokers as it was "entirely organic" and unprecedented.
Samir Chaudry, the founder of The Publish Press, which focuses on the creator industry and economy, stated that Lame's appeal to the general public was due to him representing "authenticity over production" and "not trying too hard", as compared to other TikTok stars of his age.
Lame has said his growing popularity is due to his facial expressions and his silence, which he has described as "a way to reach as many people as possible", according to an interview with Quartz Africa. As of now, 8 of the 25 most-liked videos on TikTok are his (source: Newsweek).
| Real Name | Khabane Lame |
| Social Media Username | Khaby Lame |
| DOB and Age | March 9, 2000; age 22 years |
| Height | 6’1” (185 cm) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lbs) |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| TikTok Followers and Likes | 139.8 million; 2.3 billion likes |
| YouTube Subscribers | 4.84 million |
| Instagram Followers | 77.9 million |
| Address/ Residence | Milan, Italy |
| Nationality | Senegalese |
| Partner | Zaira Nucci (engaged in 2020) |
| Total Views on TikTok | 14.9 billion views |
| Total Views on YouTube | 1,794,998,166 views |
Before starting out on social media, Khaby worked as a machine operator in a factory near Turin, Italy. In March 2020, he was laid-off. He started posting on TikTok soon after that and gained a massive following because he simplified complicated life hacks shown in videos, without saying anything.
In April 2021, he became the most-followed Italian TikToker, surpassing Gianluca Vacchi. Subsequently, in July 2021, he surpassed Addison Rae, to become the 2nd most-followed TikTok creator which is a record he still holds to this day.
Khaby is also part of the 19 TikTokers, who in 2020, were part of TikTok’s $2 billion Creator’s Fund, and has been able to use this funding for creating his content.
According to media reports and social media statistics websites, he is estimated to earn $200,000 per month. Influencer Marketing Hub estimates that Khaby may be earning between $61,501 and $102,502 per TikTok post, taking into consideration average TikTok paying structures, excluding sponsorships, promotions and endorsement deals.
Khaby joined YouTube on May 9, 2021. As of 2022, he has 4.84 subscribers with 1.7 million views. He currently only posts YouTube shorts on his channel, a lot of which is also cross-posted on TikTok.
Khaby also posts content on his Instagram page, which currently has 77.9 million followers. He has started a #learnwithinstagram series, where he aims to simplify complicated tasks shown on the internet, as well as other types of comedy sketches.
Over time, he has collaborated with eminent personalities like King Bach, Alessandro Riggio, Marco Zedda, Ceppe, Joel Lirica, Daniel LaBelle and celebrities like Terry Crews, Naomi Campbell, Ed Sheeran, J Balvin and activist Greta Thunberg. He has also collaborated with Mark Zuckerberg on the campaign for the Metaverse venture of Meta. He is noted for his collaborations with famous football stars, namely Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappe, Paulo Dybala, Vinicius Jr. and Raphael Varane.
In August 2021, Lame appeared as a co-star for Juventus F.C.'s announcement of Manuel Locatelli. Paulo Dybala, USMNT star Weston McKennie, noted Juventus player Alessandro Del Piero and Brazilian player Arthur Melo have all featured in his TikTok videos according to Goal.com.
In September 2021, he attended the Venice Film Festival as a guest for the screening of French film Lost Illusions, which was directed by Xavier Giannoli.
In January 2022, Lame signed a multi-year partnership with the brand Hugo Boss and has been an integral part of the #BeYourOwnBoss campaign. He also modelled for their Spring Summer 2022 Fashion Show in Dubai. He currently has endorsement deals with Xbox and Amazon Prime.
In October 2021, after “Squid Game” became a worldwide phenomenon, he did a commercial for Netflix keeping with the theme of the show alongside AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. This gained the attention of both TikTok and Instagram, and AC Milan as well, according to Goal.com. As of 2022, he has an endorsement deal with the streaming platform.
In September 2021, Khaby appeared in a commercial for Indian fantasy sport app called Dream 11, for a fee of Rs. 2 crore, according to Livemint. The campaign video, created with White Rivers Media, featured Indian creators Viraj Ghelani and Tanish Shah, crosses over Lame’s signature ‘uncomplicating’ theme with the brand’s campaign slogan ‘Dimaag Lagana Hai To Dream11 Pe Laga Na’.
As of 2022, Khaby Lame's net worth is $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He mostly earns from his brand endorsements and social media posts.
In addition to TikTok, Khaby is active on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, mainly producing original short form content and cross-posting videos from TikTok.
Khaby Lame practices Islam. Lame announced his engagement to Zaira Nucci in October 2020. As of 2022, they have been reported to be married, according to The New York Times in 2021.
Lame lives in Milan as an expatriate with his agent. Although he has been living in Italy since he was young, 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”.
Lame, according to his The New York Times interview, has said that due to being a Senegalese citizen, he has faced difficulties in getting Italian citizenship, as well as visas for countries like the US.
For a very long time, even though he was popular on TikTok, he did not earn enough to be able to buy a house with comparatively more decent infrastructure. However, according to his recent videos, he has been able to do that.
In this video, Khaby demonstrates how to get out of the car safely, while debunking a backseat mirror hack- 351.3 m views.
In this video, Khaby demonstrates how to open a door, using common sense- 297.9 m views.
In this video, Khaby explains how to avoid your hair getting stuck in uncomfortable positions-300 m views
In this video Khaby explains how to use toilet paper using common sense-279.2 m views.
In this video Khaby demonstrates how to safely untangle your shirt from a car door……by opening the car door- 276.2 m views.
A. He is worth $5 million as of 2022, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
A. He speaks two languages- English and Italian.
A. According to media reports and social media statistics websites, he is estimated to earn $200,000 per month. Influencer Marketing Hub estimates that Khaby may be earning $61,501 and $102,502 per TikTok post, taking into consideration average TikTok paying structures.
A. It is unconfirmed as to whether he speaks French as of 2022.
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