Ibrahima, a 43-year-old resident of Lussan in the French department of Gers, received a live snake inside an Amazon parcel. The delivery arrived at his home in Lussan after he had ordered a razor from the online retailer, causing him what he described as the greatest scare of his life when the living reptile stuck its head out of the envelope.
Following the incident, accounts of his experience went viral across major social media platforms, accumulating millions of views within days. Regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi recorded nearly two million cumulative views across its TikTok and Instagram channels, while national news broadcaster BFMTV gained over two million views on Instagram alone.
Viral media attention and radio show appearances
Total viewership surpassed five million views within 24 hours of the story being published online. Ibrahima said with a smile that the entire situation had unfolded simply because of a snake, calling the sudden attention crazy and life-changing.
He subsequently appeared in a series of television and radio interviews across major broadcasting studios. On Monday, September 21, 2026, he participated in the evening broadcast Radio libre on French national radio station Skyrock, hosted by long-time presenter Difool.
Skyrock is a major French commercial radio station based in Paris, widely known for its late-night pop culture and call-in shows. Ibrahima explained that he had listened to Difool for 30 years throughout his adolescence and adult life, adding that he was delighted when the host called him directly to invite him onto the show.
Online racist abuse and financial allegations
Beyond the media interviews, Ibrahima expressed surprise at the sheer volume of public reactions generated by his ordeal, ranging from supportive messages to hostile attacks. While many people sent encouraging notes and approached the story with good humor, he also endured a heavy wave of online hatred, racism, and highly inappropriate comments.
Rather than engaging with online trolls, he chose to ignore the hostility, questioning the point of reporting abusive comments when reporting two would only result in ten more appearing behind them. He referenced the French idiom about swallowing a snake to describe enduring the bitter experience, acknowledging that as a human being, several of the hurtful comments had personally affected him.
In addition to racist harassment, some social media users accused the 43-year-old resident of fabricating the entire event to profit financially from Amazon. Amazon is a global e-commerce corporation operating customer support services for millions of daily deliveries worldwide.
Ibrahima responded to one online critic by stating that he earned a very good living and had no financial need for such a scheme. He added that if Amazon ever provided him with monetary compensation, he would donate the entire amount to his humanitarian organization, Like and Share. He noted that he was still waiting for a commercial gesture from the company after receiving what he characterized as a bizarre customer service response regarding the package.
Charity work in Senegal and viral contrast
Like and Share is a non-profit association that conducts development projects in Senegal, the West African nation where Ibrahima was born. For the past eight years, Ibrahima has organized annual trips taking approximately ten people to Senegal to construct water wells for rural villages lacking running water.
He expressed sadness and disappointment that years of charitable efforts to provide drinking water had never attracted public attention, whereas a snake appearing in a mailbox generated five million online views in a single day. He emphasized that he played along with the media coverage with humor and detachment because he expected nothing from what he viewed as artificial and short-lived publicity, noting that the viral visibility brought him no personal gain.
Overcoming snake phobia in Gers
Despite the negative online commentary, Ibrahima said he remained amused by his temporary local notoriety across the Gers department. Gers is a rural department located in the Occitanie region of southwestern France, with the historic town of Auch serving as its administrative capital.
Before his current career, Ibrahima worked in Gers as a youth educator at the Louise-de-Marillac shelter and later served as a communications officer for Agence Évelyne, a branch of the La Dépêche media group. He recalled recently sitting on a café terrace in Auch when drivers in passing cars turned their heads to look at him.
Today, Ibrahima works as a professional disc jockey under the stage name Walabok, leading playful social media users to nickname him DJ Snake. He stated that the most meaningful and permanent result of the ordeal was completely overcoming his lifelong phobia of snakes.
He revealed that the reptile remained somewhere in his garden, adding that if he encountered it again, he would simply strike it with a shovel without fear. Concluding his reflection, he noted that overcoming his personal fear meant far more to him than millions of views on social networks.
