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IShowSpeed

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IShowSpeed
Watkins at Chinatown, Singapore in 2024
Personal information
Born
Darren Jason Watkins Jr.

(2005-01-21) January 21, 2005 (age 20)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Other namesSpeed
Occupations
Signature
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2016–present
Genres
Subscribers39.7 million[1]
Total views4.3 billion[1]
Associated acts
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2018–2021
GenreGaming
Followers400k
Musical career
Genres
LabelsWarner
WebsiteIShowSpeed Merchandise
Last updated: May 31, 2025

Darren Jason Watkins Jr.[2] (born January 21, 2005),[3] better known by his online username IShowSpeed, is an American YouTuber, internet celebrity, and online streamer. He is known for his dramatic and full of energy live streams, including in-real-life (IRL) streams in worldwide locations. People see him as a cultural ambassador because he shows the culture and inventions of each country he visits to people around the world.[4]

He created his YouTube channel in 2016, and first posted gaming content. He became popular in 2021, due to his wild and full of energy behavior such as barking and raging while gaming. He became a millionaire at age 16 and bought a house for his mother.[5] In 2022, he started making videos about soccer, especially showing support for Cristiano Ronaldo.[6][7]

Watkins also became a rapper. He signed with Warner Records to release his 2022 song "World Cup", which became popular in many countries. He won Breakout Streamer of the Year at the 12th Streamy Awards in 2022,[8][9] and Streamer of the Year at the 2024 Streamer Awards.[10][11] Watkins is one of the most popular online streamers and Internet personalities in the world.[12][13][14]

Early life and education

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Darren Watkins Jr.[15] was born on January 21, 2005, in Cincinnati, Ohio,[3] and graduated from Ohio Digital Learning School, in Maumee.[16]

Watkins created his YouTube account in 2016, uploading gameplay videos sometimes.[17] Around December 2017, Watkins began livestreaming and uploading videos of games such as NBA 2K and sometimes Fortnite, usually with about two viewers watching.[18]

Career

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2021: Early career and Twitch ban

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Watkins became popular after his fans began posting videos on TikTok showing his violent behavior during live streams towards games, players, and his camera, which gained popularity and became memes. Because of his outbursts, he was banned from Twitch and the video game Valorant.[19] Kotaku called Watkins as "one of the biggest and fastest-rising streamers" on YouTube.[17] A game that made him popular was Talking Ben. Lifehacker said Watkins' videos made Talking Ben the Dog popular again, and it became the best-selling game on the App Store in April 2022, over a decade after its release.[20]

Watkins talking with fans in November 2021

In April 2021, Watkins' YouTube channel reached 100,000 subscribers. Two months later, his channel reached 1 million subscribers.[18] In December 2021, Watkins joined a Twitch "e‑dating" livestream show hosted by Adin Ross. Watkins and another participant, Ash Kash, argued, and many people thought Watkins made a rape threat. Watkins was the first player to be eliminated, and shortly after the game had ended, he quickly rejoined the Discord call. He started harassing to Kash with rude words. Watkins was then kicked out of the call, with Ross apologizing to Kash for his behavior. Watkins was later banned from Twitch for sexual harassment.[21] Watkins' Twitch account would not be unbanned until October 2023, though he would continue to stream on YouTube and would appear on Twitch sometimes on other content creators' streams.[22]

2022–2023: Popularity and controversies

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In April 2022, a video showed Watkins playing Valorant on a live stream. In the video, he tells a female player, "Get off the f**king game and do your husband's dishes".[19] Because of this, one of the game's producers, Sara Dadafshar banned Watkins from Valorant and all other Riot Games titles forever.[23][24] YouTube's global head of gaming creators, Lester Chen, replied to the video, saying he was "on it".[17] Watkins later apologized, agreed that it was "wrong", and said that he had been getting racist comments from other players that day.[25]

On July 4, 2022, during American Independence Day, Watkins set off a Pikachu firework inside his bedroom, almost burning it down, which went popular in the media.[26][27] He reached 10 million subscribers on YouTube in this month.[18] Later in July 2022, Watkins got a community guidelines strike and a one-week ban from YouTube after livestreaming a sexual Minecraft mod called "Jenny's Mod" to 96,000 live viewers. The screen showed options like "Blowjob", "Sex", and "Strip", and he chose "Blowjob". At first, he censored the screen as it was happening, but he kept changing it from censored to uncensored. In the end, he left the screen uncensored, showing his character in a sexual scene. Watkins later confirmed the strike and said he may not return to YouTube, but did.[28][29]

In August 2022, he was swatted while livestreaming on YouTube. Police handcuffed Watkins, and his cameraman had to end the stream.[30] Watkins claimed that he had been placed in jail and that Adin Ross had to bail him out, allowing him to return to streaming on August 11.[31] In September 2022, Watkins played in the Sidemen Charity Match.[32] A clip of him went popular in which he became angry at English referee Mark Clattenburg for calling his goal offside. Watkins took off his shirt to celebrate, then hit the referee with it and got a yellow card.[33]

Watkins has made many songs. These have been popular on YouTube and TikTok. In 2022, he made a single named "World Cup". It went onto the UK Singles music chart.[34] It also went onto other national music charts.[35][36]

2024–present: Travel content and continued growth

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On January 10, 2025, Watkins announced that he would be doing a tour in South America.[37][38] On January 28, during his tour in Peru, he briefly became honorary mayor of Lima, Peru, for two hours and was also declared an ambassador of Peru and Lima.[39]

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "About IShowSpeed". YouTube.
  2. ↑ Mathur, Moulik (October 18, 2023). "IShowSpeed India Trip: Here Is Everything From Meeting McStan, Daler Mehndi, Arguing With Messi Fans, Cricket, More". IGN India. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Brigstock, Jake (June 3, 2024). "Who is IShowSpeed and how did he get so popular?". Indy100. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  4. ↑ "American YouTube star IShowSpeed woos US consumers with futuristic China tech". The Straits Times. January 3, 2024. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  5. ↑ Gil, Samantha Dorisca (December 2, 2024). "Streamer IShowSpeed Became A Millionaire At 16 Years Old And His First Major Purchase Was A House For His Mom". MARCA. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  6. ↑ Gil, Mario Blázquez (March 30, 2024). "IShowSpeed buys its first supercar featuring CR7". MARCA. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  7. ↑ Bayliss, Jake (June 15, 2024). "IShowSpeed's wild life – fireworks in house, e-dating scandal, Ronaldo obsession". The Mirror. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  8. ↑ Escandon, Rosa (October 27, 2022). "YouTube's Streamy Awards Announce 2022 Noms". Forbes. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  9. ↑ Truder, Morgan (December 5, 2022). "Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed Take Home Major Awards at Youtube Streamys". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  10. ↑ Brigstock, Jake (December 8, 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: IShowSpeed named streamer of the year". Indy100. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  11. ↑ DeSena, Gabby (December 8, 2024). "Recap: All 2024 Streamer Awards Winners". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on December 13, 2024. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  12. ↑ Dmytro, Murko (September 20, 2024). "IShowSpeed has become Top 1 English-speaking streamer of all time". Streams Charts. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  13. ↑ Laura, Ceci (August 5, 2024). "Leading streamers worldwide across major streaming platforms in June 2024, by average viewers". Statista. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Mobbed in Norway, A Guest on Club Shay Shay, How Is IShowSpeed, 19, One Of the World's Biggest Streaming Stars?". The Root. December 30, 2024. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  15. ↑ Mathur, Moulik (October 18, 2023). "IShowSpeed India Trip: Here Is Everything From Meeting McStan, Daler Mehndi, Arguing With Messi Fans, Cricket, More". IGN India. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Even After Failing Almost All His Classes, Notorious Streamer iShowSpeed Flips The World Upside Down During His High-School Graduation". EssentiallySports. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 "YouTube Streamer With 6.9M Followers Banned After Valorant Tirade Clip Surfaces". Kotaku. April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Tsiaoussidis, Alex (August 2, 2022). "No slowing down: IShowSpeed is fastest growing streamer on YouTube right now". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Harrison, Christian (April 7, 2022). "YouTuber IShowSpeed banned from VALORANT, all Riot games following viral sexist rant". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Stephen (April 8, 2022). "The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: What Is 'The Ick'?". Lifehacker. G/O Media. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  21. ↑ Press-Reynolds, Kieran. "Twitch reportedly bans streamer after he said an influencer couldn't 'stop' him from reproducing with her if they were the last people on Earth". Business Insider. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  22. ↑ Gutelle, Sam (October 11, 2023). "Twitch reinstates the account of iShowSpeed, ending a ban that lasted nearly two years". Tubefilter. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  23. ↑ Shutler, Ali (April 8, 2022). "Streamer IShowSpeed banned from every Riot Games title after sexist tirade". NME. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  24. ↑ "IShowSpeed banned from all Riot Games for sexist abuse". invenglobal.com. April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  25. ↑ Cheong, Charissa. "A gaming YouTuber with 7 million subscribers apologized for screaming 'go do your husband's dishes' at a female player". Business Insider. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  26. ↑ "US Streamer nearly sets rooms on fire after lighting Pikachu firework during Live-Stream video". malaymail.com. July 7, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  27. ↑ "YouTuber Speed sets off fireworks in his room during insane 4th of July stream". HITC. October 18, 2022. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  28. ↑ Cheong, Charissa. "A YouTuber with 10 million subscribers is embroiled in controversy after footage of him simulating a sex act while playing Minecraft went viral". Business Insider. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  29. ↑ Polhamus, Blaine (July 22, 2022). "'I'm banned': IShowSpeed says goodbye after controversial YouTube stream". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  30. ↑ Grayson, Nathan. "Twitch streamers traumatized after four 'swattings' in a week". Washington Post. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  31. ↑ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (August 12, 2022). "IShowSpeed claims police put him in jail after YouTube swatting and Adin Ross had to bail him out". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  32. ↑ Writer, Owen Slot, Chief Sports (September 30, 2022). "Chunkz, Pieface, and a YouTube-inspired sporting apocalypse". The Times. Retrieved July 24, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ↑ Fletcher, Harry (September 26, 2022). "Top highlights from the Sidemen Charity football match". Indy100. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  34. ↑ "Official Singles Chart on 25/11/2022". Official Charts. 2022-11-30. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  35. ↑ "Dutch Single Tip 26/11/2022". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  36. ↑ "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. November 14, 2022. Archived from the original on November 11, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  37. ↑ Menon, Vishnu (2025-01-10). "IShowSpeed announces upcoming South America tour". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  38. ↑ "IShowSpeed's South America IRL Tour". Complex.
  39. ↑ "IShowSpeed Declared Mayor of Lima for One Hour During Peru Visit". Complex.

Other websites

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to IShowSpeed.
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