TikTok’s viral ‘Corn Kid’ gets the ultimate corn honor, and it’s adorable

Vegetable, whole grain, fruit and now a viral star with its own official ambassador. Of course, we’re talking about corn!

You might have seen the viral TikTok video or heard about Tariq, the adorable kid who recently went viral for his absolute love for buttery corn. The social media obsession with Tariq began after he appeared on the web series, “Recess Therapy,” where host, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, a comedian, interviews kids in New York City and posts their, often hilarious, clips online.

In the TikTok viral video, Tariq’s sweet enthusiasm and excitement for corn will make it clear why the whole world is so obsessed. It’s not just the fact that he starts with, “Ever since I was told that corn was real…” or that later he even considerately adds in a part about how not everyone needs to like it (I mean, come on, how precious!) or, (arguably the best part) that he describes it as, “a big lump with knobs,” but it’s everything he says and especially his cute little voice.

The interview has since gained more than 3 million views on YouTube and over 800,000 on TikTok!

And now, it’s even received attention from the Governor of South Dakota. Governor Kristi L. Noem crowned Tariq as the states official “Corn-bassador” and even dubbed September 3 as “Official Corn-bassador Tariq Day.”

For his first official stop representing the vegetable, Tariq was invited to tour the famous Corn Palace in South Dakota. Over Labor Day weekend, he visited the building that’s home to murals featuring thousands of kernels in a variety of shades.

“Tariq’s a-maize-ing endorsement contains more than a kernel of truth and has reached ears across the world via social media.”

The Cornfluencer’s original interview has even inspired The Gregory Brothers, who put social media’s viral moments to a soundtrack on their account, to make a remix that has since been trending on TikTok.

The sound they created has been used in over 645,000 TikToks videos! The Washington Post’s Dave Jorgenson even used it for a video explainer on how cornfields release “a-maizing levels of humidity” into the air.

Google Trends reports that searches for “corn song” have been steadily on the rise. Chipotle even featured Tariq and, of course, corn in an ad. Tariq is also doing work on the app Cameo, where you can hire celebrities for personalized videos, and his starting rate begins at $220.

Everyone from celebrities like Barbara Corcoran, to sports teams like the Colorado Rockies, and even, federal agencies like Nasa have all paid homage in different ways to Tariq, the, “Corn Kid.”

If you’re still hungry for more corn content, there’s even a whole hashtag dedicated to it called, #CornTok, where all of the videos set to the official, “It’s Corn,” song exist.

As he said in the viral video, Tariq just wants everyone to have a, “corn-tastic day.”