Khaby Lame, a 22-year-old TikTok celebrity whose humorous, wordless videos have gained him the most fans in the world, has become an Italian citizen.
Lame announced this week to officials in Chivasso, the city near Turin where he and his family relocated after leaving Senegal when he was a year old.
Khabane Serigne Lame, whose full name is Lame, began his TikTok career during Italy’s 2020 coronavirus shutdown after losing his manufacturing job. His spectacular rise to digital success over the past two years has propelled him to 148 million followers and the top spot among TikTok creators.
“My face and expressions are what make people laugh,” Lame told The New York Times a year ago, adding that his reactions speak “a universal language.”
This week, he stated after the citizenship ceremony, “I am really proud.” “Even before today, I felt Italian because I’ve always lived here. Regarding the oath I signed, I have a strong sense of obligation. These are more than mere words.” (You may view a video of his ceremony and his remarks on it on the Facebook page of the city of Chivasso.)
The case of Lame has illuminated the difficult path to citizenship for immigrants in Italy. Children of non-Italians can get Italian citizenship at the age of 18 if they were born in Italy and have consistently resided there since then.
For individuals like Lame, though, who were born overseas, the process is more complicated and harder to manage.
Recently, he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, “It is not acceptable that a person who lives and grows up with the Italian culture for so many years and is clean does not have the right to citizenship.” “I’m not just speaking for myself.”
In Italy, the subject is a political hot potato. Numerous attempts to establish laws granting birthright citizenship to all children regardless of their parents’ citizenship have failed.
Lame has stated that his life has become “totally different” since gaining famous.
This week, after his citizenship ceremony, he stated, “I’ve always lived in popular [low-income] housing, and even though we had very little, we were nevertheless happy, comfortable, and playing in the yard.”
He has stated that he is still not quite accustomed to his popularity, but that he is gradually adjusting.