"Emmanuel, Don't Do It!": The Internet Can't Get Enough of This Phone-Loving Florida Emu

The world's most famous emu lives on a hobby farm in South Florida.

Emmanuel the impertinent emu has been trying Taylor Blake's patience since 2015, but she only began sharing his hilarious phone-hating ways with the internet a few weeks ago.

Blake, the TikTok creator who runs Knuckle Bump Farms, recently shared a video of Emmanuel interrupting her while she was trying to film an educational video about a cow. She told The Washington Post that she was so irritated when she first filmed it that she didn't share it like she usually does. It wasn't until she rewatched it about a month later that she realized how funny it was.

"Emmanuel, don't do it! Emmanuel, don't do it!" Blake can be heard scolding the 5-foot-8 emu as it moves closer to her phone, threatening to knock it to the ground with his beak.

"I just posted it, not thinking anything of it," she told the Post. It "completely spiraled from there."

Since then, Blake's TikTok account has exploded in popularity. Knuckle Bump Farms now has more than a million followers, and videos of Emmanuel's antics bring in millions of views. "Emmanuel don't do it" is the internet's new catchphrase.

The 29-year-old has leaned into Emmanuel's unlikely fame, regularly posting videos of the flightless bird wandering into the screen with destruction in his eyes. When he's particularly naughty, Blake, like any Southern mama, uses his government name: Emmanuel Todd Lopez.

Blake told the Post that Emmanuel's interruptions aren't staged. He has a true "obsession with the camera"—and "obsession with me. … No matter where I am … he always has to be right next to me."

Blake hopes to capitalize on Emmanuel's newfound stardom to sell merchandise with his face on it. Proceeds will benefit Knuckle Bump, which is home to dozens of other quirky animals.

"There's a bright future for Knuckle Bump Farms and for Emmanuel and for all the other animals, and I could see this going really, really far," she told the Post. "I am just super stoked to be along for the ride."