Khaby Lame
You might remember it as Khabane Lame
Watch now18 of 60
2020·Short-form and streams·funny
The most-followed person on TikTok became so without saying a word.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Khabane Lame
- Spread in
- 2020
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Made by
- Khabane “Khaby” Lame, born in Dakar in 2000 and raised in Chivasso, near Turin
- Record
- Most-followed creator on TikTok from 22 June 2022
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
A video shows somebody doing something simple in an absurdly complicated way — peeling a banana with a machine, opening a car door through the window. Khaby Lame then does the same thing the obvious way, turns to the camera and opens his palms. He does not speak. That is the entire format.
Lame has judged Italia's Got Talent, appeared on Forbes and Fortune lists, and become a fixture at fashion weeks and World Cups. The silent-reaction format is now a standard grammar on the platform, used by people who have never heard of him.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A laid-off factory worker became the most-followed person on TikTok without saying a word. His format is to answer an overcomplicated “life hack” video by doing the task simply, in silence, and gesturing at it.
TimelineIn order
- Made
Lame is laid off from his job as a machine operator at a factory near Turin and begins posting to TikTok.1
- Record
He passes Gianluca Vacchi as the most-followed Italian on TikTok.1
- Mainstream
He signs a multi-year partnership with Hugo Boss.1
- Record
He passes Charli D’Amelio to become the most-followed creator on TikTok, with 142.1 million followers.1
- Later
He becomes an Italian citizen.1
- Later
He is detained by US immigration officers in Las Vegas for overstaying a visa, and leaves the country the same day.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asHis first videos were the silent ones.
ActuallyHe began with dancing and video-game clips. The wordless replies to “life hack” videos came afterwards.1
Commonly remembered asHe never speaks.
ActuallyHe has a voice part in the Italian dub of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.1
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Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. The example shown is one surviving copy and is not claimed as the first.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things