A seemingly innocuous corner of TikTok where people post videos of emus is the epicentre of the latest niche internet drama. Here’s everything you need to know.

This story was first published on the author’s newsletter, Emily Writes Weekly.

While I’m not a fan of emus, I am a fan of niche internet drama. So with that in mind, after requests following my last post, here’s my breakdown of the emu content controversy.

OK wait, what is EmuTok?

EmuTok is basically the emu realm of TikTok. Endless videos of emus in hobby and rescue farms – mostly charging at their owners, because that’s what female emus do.

Just who are these famous emus?

Emmanuel is the “main” emu at Knuckle Bump Farms in south Florida. Emmanuel’s owner is Taylor. Together they have 2.4 million followers. Other featured emus from the farm are Ellen, Eliza, Elliot, and Emily.

Karen is an emu at Useless Farm in Kingston, Ontario. Karen’s owner is Amanda. Together they have five million followers. Less popular is Stanley, another emu who lacks the blinding charisma of Karen. He also lives on Useless Farm.

Why are people talking about this?

Because, basically, there’s been an outbreak of avian influenza, aka bird flu, at Knuckle Bump Farms and Emmanuel got sick. According to owner Taylor Blake, more than 50 birds on her farm died in three days. These included other emus – namely, Emily, Eliza and Elliot.

Taylor posted videos of herself lying next to Emmanuel and kissing him on the beak. If you immediately thought “why on God’s green Earth would anyone kiss an emu with fucking bird flu” well, you’re not alone my friend. Science Twitter, particularly virologists and veterinarians, really lost their shit on this one and who could blame them.

A virologist and research scientist from the Vaccine and Infection Disease Organization in Canada said what everyone was thinking: “If your emu (or any bird) has avian influenza, do not kiss it. Do not cuddle with it. Do not touch it. Bird flu is extremely dangerous to humans and other animals.”

Like others, this scientist said Emmanuel should be euthanised.

So did Emmanuel get euthanised?

No. Taylor responded to the backlash by saying she cuddled him with no protection because Emmanuel “freaks” when he sees a mask. It turns out that not only does Emmanuel not know that he’s a viral star on TikTok, he also doesn’t know the importance of masking up.

So she kept on snuggling that emu. And then oh, how the tables turn, in that it turns out Emmanuel didn’t ever even have bird flu.

On October 23 Taylor tweeted: “Emmanuel Todd Lopez tested negative for Avian Influenza at two separate labs, swab, fecal, and blood. He does not have the virus, and is not actively shedding the virus”.

So wait, why was the emu so sick then?

Good question. Despite saying “God is Good” and that’s why Emmanuel is not bird flu positive… It turns out maybe he was just anxious the whole time?

“We believe this all stemmed from stress. Emus are highly susceptible to stress. He was incredibly overwhelmed by the state coming in and euthanising our flock.” Taylor tweeted.

Is it possible Emmanuel the emu was stressed because his owner was Milkshake Ducked?

So, just to make sure we’re at the same place here: being Milkshake Ducked is when a person who is beloved on social media is quickly revealed to be racist or a Nazi or just plain problematic. The phenomenon takes its name from this all-time great tweet:

Had you been mixing up Taylor from Knuckle Bump Farms with Amanda from Useless Farms? Don’t worry, now you can remember that one is “the Racist Emu Lady” and one… isn’t.

As is the way of the internet, it was recently revealed that Taylor had a bunch of racist tweets out in the world before her rebrand as an emu enthusiast on TikTok. She also did that “pretending to be racist to satirise racism” thing, playing a woman named Karen (of course), which rarely works out in the way white TikTok comedians think it will. This all inevitably led to an online discussion (including this long thread) about Taylor, white lesbians and racism.

OK but what about the other Karen – the emu from Canada?

That emu is fine. And is only mentioned as an antidote to “the Racist Emu Lady” as, incredibly, her owner has no skeletons in her closet as of publication time.

I just wish beloved wild life enthusiast and eternal-teen Bindi Irwin had something to do with this.

Well, it’s your lucky day, because she does. When it was thought Emmanuel had bird flu, Taylor and her followers bombarded Bindi with requests to help. Even though Bindi lives in a country called Australia which is not in the United States.

Taylor tweeted Bindi: “I have been a fan of your family for as long as I can remember, I am reaching out to you in total desperation right now. I need help saving my emu, Emmanuel.”

Bindi replied that though the Irwin/Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital has treated over 100,000 animals including emus, they have never treated an emu “with this particular disease”.

She rather sensibly added: “We will need to rely on our fellow animal experts with more experience with this avian flu”. But it was too late. Emmanuel’s fans were pissed that she wouldn’t help.

In a now deleted tweet, one member of the Church of Emmanuel and Parasocial Relationships with Emus said: “What a pathetic, useless reply. Zero effort to help when you’re in a supposedly unique position to use your influence and contacts to actually help her. Thoughts and prayers are cheap. You are unimpressive and that’s being polite.”

I am so tired. I am so very tired of this world.

Absolutely fair but not a question.

So what now?

I imagine this whole brouhaha will ignite a debate on whether people should keep emus as pets and use wild animals as ways to gain popularity on social media. Or maybe it will highlight the dangers of avian flu.

Or maybe there will be no further debate and people will choose which emu side they’re on and one day there will be a new emu influencer, and we will follow her and then she will be Milkshake Ducked and it will continue on in an endless cycle until the planet dies.

What does Emmanuel say about that?

Nothing. He’s an emu.

This story was first published on the author’s newsletter, Emily Writes Weekly.

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