Published on: 08/18/2022 – 23:00
Khaby Lame, 22, who was born in Senegal, has become a social media superstar mainly thanks to his humorous silent videos. He has been posting them on the TikTok platform since 2020, where he now has almost 150 million subscribers, a world record! But although he grew up in the Turin suburb of Chivasso from an early age, he only received Italian citizenship on Wednesday 17 August.
With our correspondent in Rome, Anne LeNir
Khaby Lame says he is very proud to have finally become an Italian citizen. The world’s most followed influencer on TikTok has actually lived in the north of the peninsula since he was a child. But in Italy, children of foreign parents can only start the process of obtaining Italian citizenship from the age of 18. And the reform project to grant land rights to underage children of a foreign family has been blocked since the fall of the Draghi government.
Strongly backed by the Democratic Party and its allies, this project may never see the light of day as the right-wing and far-right coalition is at the forefront of voting intentions for the general elections scheduled for September 25. However, the sovereignist parties promise to stop migration flows and preserve the right to blood.
But who knows if Khaby Lame will not use his fame to defend the rights of a million minors who are considered foreigners once they have perfectly integrated in Italy.
►Also read: Social networks: The Senegalese Khaby Lame, the most followed man in the world on TikTok