It started when Emmanuel's caretaker, Taylor Blake, began uploading short informative videos to TikTok about the different animals that reside at Knuckle Bump Farms, a small hobby farm in South Florida that provides miniature cattle. Though Emmanuel doesn't seem to have been scripted into the videos, that hasn't stopped the impertinent bird from strutting in front of Blake mid-monologue and dramatically staring at the device with his dark red eyes.
"Emmanuel, don't do it! Emmanuel, don't do it!" Blake can be seen shouting in at least half a dozen videos published on the @KnuckleBumpFarms TikTok since early July, garnering 10 million-plus views.
In every instance, Blake's admonition prompts Emmanuel to weigh the eternal emu question: To peck, or not to peck?
Though the farm's residents include another emu named Ellen, a docile deer, and a handful of adorable miniature cattle, it's Emmanuel who has become the inadvertent star of the Knuckle Bump Farms TikTok.@knucklebumpfarms Not a day goes by that Emanuel doesn’t try my life #emu #emusoftiktok #farmlife ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms
"I love how he contemplates everything you are saying but then is like “nope…,”' writes one user.
"Emmanuel needs chaos and attention. I feel that to my core," observes another.
"I think we need a compilation of Emanuel being every middle child," says a third.
this past Friday, Twitter user @p4andr_ uploaded a minute-long compilation of Emmanuel and Blake's best interactions. The spot, which has already clocked nearly 22 million views, showcases Emmanuel's chaotic energy, a combination of the curious fascination of a toddler and the sinister intensity of a velociraptor.
In one segment, Blake, a self-described Jesus-loving and mildly funny lesbian, attempts to explain the difference between two breeds of cows at the farm, only for Emmanuel to waltz into focus and, heedless of his human's heartfelt pleas, peck the phone until it falls down.Holy crap this is wonderful pic.twitter.com/kSUiQd0XQP
— David (@p4ndr_) July 15, 2022
In another, Emmanuel appears in the video, stares down the camera, and then disappears out of view, seemingly obeying Blake's command to "not choose violence today."
The clip ends with an exercise in reverse psychology: Rather than command Emmanuel to "not do it" for the umpteenth time, Blake instructs the flightless fowl to go ahead and "do it." He does — and knocks the phone down with his beak. It lands face-up on the ground, focused on Emmanuel's long neck.
"How did that make you feel?" Blake asks. "Was it everything you ever wanted and wished for and hoped for in life? Do you feel fulfilled now?"
Emmanuel doesn't respond, his gaze seemingly having fixed on a new shiny object to peck.
