The 22-year-old, who has 150 million followers on the social network, has lived in Italy since he was one year old.
“I’ve always felt Italian,” Tik toker Khaby Lame said on Wednesday. Born in Senegal and living in Italy since he was a child, the young man who has become the most famous influencer on the Tik-Tok platform in recent years has just acquired Italian citizenship at the age of 22.
He was officially granted Italian citizenship during a ceremony Wednesday in Chivasso, his hometown near Turin in the Piedmont region. In Italy, blood law applies and not land law: in order to obtain Italian citizenship quickly, it is necessary to have an Italian parent, otherwise the procedures are often very lengthy.
From an Italian factory to a Tik-Tok star
With its 150 million subscribers, the influencer has become an indispensable star of the social network Tik Tok in recent years. In 2020 he enrolled after losing his job at a factory in Chivasso due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not knowing what to do during this time, he decides to post a few videos and quickly finds his trademark: simple pantomime-like and mute reactions to events he deems absurd.
Success is not long in coming, and he quickly collects many subscribers. The consecration took place last June when Khaby Lame dethroned American Charlie D’Amelio, 142 million subscribers, known for her dances on the social network. Meanwhile, the young man is interested in the world of cinema, at the 75th Cannes Film Festival he was a jury member for the Tik Tok section.