Khaby Lame: From Being Unemployed To World Known Star
That’s the life story of Khabane Lame, better know as Khaby Lane, who recently hit the fascinating number of 100 million TikTok followers.
Maybe you haven’t heard his name, but you have certainly seen his face.
The 21-year-old was desperate when he lost his job to the Covid-19 pandemic in March but that failure ended up as the best thing that has ever happened to him. Just 17 months ago he wasn’t known but now the young man has a net worth somewhere between £1 million and £2 million.
The TikTok sensation is originally from Senegal, a West African country with a population of more than 15 million. Poverty and insecurity forced Khabi’s parents to search for a better life and they moved to northern Italian industrial town of Chivasso when Khaby was only 1-year-old.
Khaby was just another immigrant who fight to provide for himself and his family, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he lost his job. His dad reportedly begged him to apply for another job but Khaby had other plans.
Just like any young man with plenty of spare time, Khaby decided to make TikTok videos where he reacts to some of the internet’s weirdest life hacks. Only two months after he created his own TikTok account he got 50,000 followers.
His fandom grew quickly as he reached one million followers in February with famous footballers, such as Juventus player Paulo Dybala and former Italian star Alessandro Del Piero, featuring in one of his videos. He never speaks a word, instead he makes unimpressed, face expressions and shrugging to the camera.
Soon his content went viral and that changed his life. He’s had 1.5 billion likes on TikTok and his most watched video has been viewed 158 million times. Lame knows that he owns the success to his facial expressions.
“It’s my face and my expressions which make people laugh,” he told in a recent interview.
He considers his muted reactions as a “global language”. Khaby Lame’s estimated net worth was calculated based on the number of likes and followers he has across all his different social media accounts. The popular platforms pay him as a content creator but he also lands sponsorship deals.
“His desire to make the most out of his situation and turn it into an opportunity to achieve his dream of making people laugh motivated him to start a TikTok account and share his first comedy videos,” TikTok said in a blog post.
“With one funny video after another, his followers began to grow, and in less than 17 months, Khaby has quickly become one of the most recognised and loved TikTok creators globally as he continues to use his unique creativity and sense of humor to spread joy to a global community.”
How much followers does Khaby Lame have?
Khaby Lame has 103 million TikTok followers and over 1.5billion likes, Lame has additional 35 million followers on Instagram and 70,000 on his Twitter account….https://bit.ly/2W3h6Ue
Originally published at https://africancelebs.com.
