Blackburn teacher 'Robin Hood of TikTok' for mocking rich influencers

Shabaz Ali started making videos on TikTok at the end of 2019. Last year, Ali hit 107,000 followers and in just over a year, his follower count has soared to a whopping 1.7m.

His account, Shabaz Says, is focused on reacting to videos of influencers flaunting excessive wealth and glamorous lifestyles, with a deadpan style of humour that has made him go viral.

Last month, Shabaz was interviewed on ABC News Australia by presenter Fauziah Ibrahim who introduced the Blackburn creator as “the Robin Hood of TikTok” who is “taking power from the ludicrously wealthy and giving it to us, the so-called ‘povvos’.”

Shabaz Ali interviewed on ABC News Australia (Image: ShabazSays)

She said: “Shabaz Ali provides a humorous reality check on ridiculous displays of affluence on social media.

"His ‘I’m rich, you’re poor’ posts are rocking TikTok, Instagram, and all the social media platforms.

"It’s not something you’d expect from a chemistry teacher from Blackburn in England.”

The class-commentary content started when the former Stonyhurst College teacher reacted to a TikTok of a woman talking about ice cube trays.

Speaking in the ABC interview, Shabaz said: “I just started to make videos from bed because that’s what everybody was doing and I just got sick of seeing rich people boast about their lives.

“It really started from an ice cube tray with a woman who was saying everyone should have these ice cube trays in different flavours, and I thought well hold on, ‘I don’t think anyone whose poor would have time to make that many ice cubes,' and it just blew up from there. Now I get tagged in so many videos.”

Although his content is mainly focused on wealthy and privileged people, Shabaz explained he isn’t anti-rich.

He said: “It’s never been about criticising rich people because there’s a lot of really hard-working people who have worked from the bottom to get where they are.

“It’s those influencer type people that are out there talking about their wealth and the overindulgence that’s the problem.

“The idea they need to show off every single item and exactly how much it costs, and how many holidays they’ve been on. Just what we’re so used to seeing on social media, I think everyone’s just sick of it now.

“Yes, have money, work hard and be able to buy these things but don’t overindulge.

"These lifestyles are not achievable for these young people and it’s really difficult to be a teacher and see them see this wealth without realising it’s not the truth.”

Responding to Fauziah’s question about his thoughts on the King’s Coronation, Shabaz said: “There are four million children in poverty, basic necessities for young girls are unaffordable, the country is in such a crisis with food and just being able to afford a cost of living.

“And we’ve funded £200 million of our money to fund the coronation.

"I’m not anti-monarchy, but the idea we’re footing the bill for this person who is so out of touch with his people. His people are suffering and he's parading around in a gold carriage, it's a lot.”

Shabaz Ali is in the process of launching a podcast and releasing a book he says is “essentially a ‘povvos’ guide to life.”