TikTok star Khaby Lame makes thousands per post despite never speaking in his videos
Khaby Lame is the TikTok world's indisputable silent assassin.
Set to turn 25 years old on Sunday (9 March), the Senegalese-Italian arrived on the wave of pandemic influencers five years ago, standing out from the crowd with his expressively close-mouthed videos.
Such is his success on the social media platform, Forbes revealed that each of Lame's uploads now earn him hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though he hardly makes a sound on camera.
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Lame first began making a name for himself on TikTok after being laid off from his day job as a CNC (computer numerical control) machine operator during the Covid crisis.
Progressing his image from just gaming and dancing, his profile didn't take long to find a widespread audience as he silently reacted to an endless array of questionable 'life hacks' available on the app.
Keeping his lips tightly zipped, the star then overtook Charli D'Amelio in 2022 to become TikTok's biggest influencer - amassing 161.9 million followers.
It's now estimated by Forbes that this major player makes north of £617,300 ($750,000) per branded post.
You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.
There's far worse ways to make money in this life, especially given the fact Lame has appeared in clips alongside Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr and Matt Damon.
His wealth reportedly reached £13.5 million ($16.5m) after teaming up with major brands like Hugo Boss and Sony Pictures, and even cameoing in Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's action-comedy Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
Fortunately for his young fanbase, the 24-year-old is more than aware of the responsibility on his shoulders.
Lame told Forbes: "I want to work clean. I've never promoted anything that's bad for you... because a lot of kids follow me and it's a great responsibility."
Further solidifying his stardom, Lame recently followed in the footsteps of Neymar, Eminem, Ariana Grande, Lewis Hamilton and Tom Holland by being added as a skin to the epic multiple-player video game Fortnite.
However, YouTube sensation MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) remains at the top of the influencer mountain thanks to his 321 million followers.
This guy, who has wild post-mortem plans for the channel after his death, earned £67.5m ($82m) from his YouTubing.
Coming in as the site's runner-up was KSI (112m followers), while Jake Paul holds the bronze.
Topics: TikTok, Social Media
Dan Seddon