Emmanuel may be a flightless bird, but the emu is soaring in views on TikTok. Now internet famous, the sassy bird hails from south Florida’s Knuckle Bump Farms — a hobby farm operated by TikTok mastermind Taylor Blake.
Sporting just shy of one million followers, Blake’s TikTok account has accrued tens of millions of views. While the hobby farm aficionado tries to show off her pasture of pets in each and every video, Emmanuel tends to steal the spotlight by rudely walking into frame unannounced and trying to knock over the camera.
It’s a game of farm girl vs. flightless bird that is reminiscent of the iconic cat vs. mouse shenanigans of “Tom & Jerry,” and it’s equally entertaining.
Blake’s early content is chock full of fluffy, adorable Highland cows. But it was the emu — fill name Emmanuel Todd Lopez — that rocketed Blake’s page into the internet stratosphere.
In each of the videos featured, as the bird wades into view, Blake can be heard shouting “Emmanuel, don’t do it!” The internet has since run away with the catchphrase, turning it into an increasingly popular meme.
In the end, Blake gave the viewers what they wanted. In the video below, the farm hobbyist can be seen giving in and letting the Emu take down the camera once and for all.
The video came at a cost, however. Blake revealed in the TikTok post that she now has cow manure stuck inside her phone speaker because of Emmanuel’s destructive streak. No one said being internet famous was easy.
