Who is Emmanuel the emu and why has he gone viral on Tik Tok?
An emu at Knuckle Bump Farms in Southern Florida and his caretaker are taking TikTok by storm as she tries to shoot videos, he steals the show.
Anyone with young kids knows how hard it can be to get them to participate when taking a picture or shooting a video. Now if it is a seven-year-old emu, and his siblings, the task can become one of absolute exasperation.
That is the case of Taylor Blake, caretaker at Knuckle Bump Farms, and Emmanuel, an emu who takes issue with her iPhone while she attempts to film videos to post on TikTok. The pair along with the other sometimes less than cooperative animals on the South Florida farm have become a social media sensation.
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Emmanuel hasn’t destroyed any iPhones, yet…
Part tour guide, part animal caretaker and part educator on the difference between the various animals on the mini cow hobby farm, Blake has posted numerous videos on TikTok of the critters and herself interacting with them. But the star and her best friend that’s catching all the attention is Emmanuel.
You would be forgiven if you thought his full name was ‘Emmanueldontdoit’ for all the times he pops into the camera frame for a close-up. When that happens Blake exclaims “Don’t do it! Emmanuel, don’t do it!” to varying degrees of success but quite often her iPhone ends up in the mud after a stiff peck. Speaking to CNN she explained that he hates two things in life, phones and buttons. Amazingly she hasn’t lost a phone yet to his aggressive lashing out at the device usually perched on a nearby fence.
A recent post titled ‘He knew I meant business when I whipped out his government name’ we learned that the emu’s full name is Emmanuel Todd Lopez. When he backed off from the camera, Blake seemed surprised telling the 5-foot 8-inch bird, “That brings me great joy in my soul that you listened.”
Emmanuel is not the only one that tested the resilience of Blake’s patience
Emmanuel has two sisters, Ellen and Regina, who also take any chance to get on camera and ruin Blake’s attempts at creating new content for the Knuckle Bump Farms’ page. The antics of the emu siblings and Blake, along with the wide variety of farm dwellers and squatters, who sometimes cooperate in the video clips have attracted quiet a following. Blake celebrated with Emmanuel having crossed the one millionth follower just the other day.