TikTok's 'Corn Kid' Named 'Corn-Bassador' Of South Dakota, Visits Corn Palace

SOUTH DAKOTA — TikTok users have known for weeks that a boy named Tariq who went viral after waxing poetic about his favorite vegetable is an authority on corn. But now it’s official.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued a proclamation Saturday declaring Tariq the state’s official “corn-bassador.” The boy also visited South Dakota, including the famed World’s Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, known for its corn murals.

The proclamation noted that South Dakota is “one of the top corn producers in the nation” before bestowing Tariq, “a 7-year-old boy who recently discovered that corn was real,” with his title and declaring Sept. 3 to be Official Corn-Bassador Tariq Day.

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

So, who is Tariq and why exactly is he the corn-bassador? On Aug. 4, the boy appeared in a video for the YouTube channel Recess Therapy titled “The CEO of Corn,” in which he discussed his love of the starchy vegetable.

“I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing,” Tariq told host Julian Shapiro-Barnum in the video, describing corn as “a big lump with knobs — it has the juice” and noting that “when I tried it with butter, everything changed.”

Fast forward to Aug. 18, when The Gregory Brothers — known for musical audio remixes such as 2010’s “Bed Intruder Song” and the “Stranger Things”-inspired “Chrissy, Wake Up” earlier this summer — set Tariq’s corny pronouncements to music, much to the internet’s delight.

The original Recess Therapy interview has 3.16 million views on YouTube, while on TikTok, the hashtag #itscorn has 1.2 billion views, and #cornsong, #cornkid and #corntok all have over 200 million views. Tariq even appeared in a video for Chipotle, expressing enthusiasm for — what else — the roasted chili-corn salsa.