News reports started to surface earlier this week that claimed that the owner of the popular “Daquan” social media account, which has over 15 million followers, isn’t owned by the Black man. Instead, the well-known page was rumored to be owned and operated by a non-Black man named Barak Shragai, who just so happens to be IMGN’s co-founder and CEO. This resulted in a number of people on the internet accusing the page of “digital blackface.” However, REVOLT is confirming that those reports aren’t true.
For those who aren’t aware, IMGN is a company that is known for making many of the hilarious memes and viral videos that social media users see on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. These claims of the page being run by a non-Black man began after Warner Music Group bought the media organization a couple of weeks ago.
However, in an exclusive statement to REVOLT, the real owner of the “Daquan” account confirmed:
“I’m a 23-year-old Ethiopian who lives in Calgary, Canada. There’s been false claims about me and the brand the past few days. Just want to make it clear I started the account in 2014 and I have been running it since then. The guy in the [article] photo that was spreading around is my business partner.”
IMGN works with the owner and has helped him ink major deals with UTA, a top talent agency that represents some of the biggest stars, as well as with Snapchat Discover and other companies.
The owner commented on these inaccurate reports on his IG stories, as well. By posting a couple of screenshots of past article bits from The Observer and The Atlantic, he further validated the truth.
“I wanted to come on here to address some false claims I’ve been seeing online. Daquan is run by me, a 23-year-old Ethiopian from Canada. There’s a picture of my business partner floating around that articles are falsely claiming is me,” the “Daquan” account owner said.
He added, “There’s only one person behind this account and that’s me — the same person who started this in 2014.”
Take a look at his IG story screenshots below.
