- ICE briefly detained TikTok’s top star, Khaby Lame, for overstaying his visa, an ICE spokesperson said.
- Lame was held at a Las Vegas airport before being granted voluntary departure and leaving the US.
- The 25-year-old creator has around 160 million followers on TikTok.
TikTok’s top star, Khaby Lame, was briefly detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday, an ICE spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.
Lame, an Italian-Senegalese creator with around 160 million followers on TikTok, had overstayed the terms of his visa after entering the US on April 30, the spokesperson said. He was briefly detained at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid International Airport before being granted voluntary departure. He’s since left the country, they said.
A representative for Lame declined to comment.
The 25-year-old creator became TikTok’s most-followed star in 2022 after developing a signature comedic style of silent reactions to social-media absurdities. The creator leveraged his TikTok audience into a business that BI previously reported had grossed $16.5 million in 2023 from brand deals alone.
After gaining internet fame, Lame broke into other parts of media, attending this year’s Met Gala and building a collection with the clothing brand Hugo Boss.
Lame has also partnered with brands like Google, State Farm, and Pepsi, which worked with the creator in a marketing push tied to the 2024 Super Bowl.
He’s appeared as a character in the video game “Fortnite,” and previously said that much of his brand work is in the US.
“I don’t think I have a single sponsor in Italy,” Lame told BI last year.
The main thing keeping him in Italy is family, he said.
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