Who Is iShowSpeed & What Did He Do In Malaysia? Here Are 9 Things You Need To Know
From loving durian to attempting to be a 'mat rempit', iShowSpeed gained 120,000 YouTube subscribers during his livestream yesterday, 17 September.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 18 Sep 2024, 06:44 PM
iShowSpeed, a prominent American YouTuber, live streamer, and Internet personality, was in Malaysia for his Southeast Asia tour yesterday, 17 September
1. iShowSpeed is a 19-year-old streamer, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, US
His real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr. He started his YouTube channel in 2016 when he was 11 years old, uploading videos of him playing games such as Fortnite and NBA 2K.
However, he only began streaming in 2019. Two years later, he experienced a meteoric rise to fame, gaining a million followers in just a few days at the age of 16.
His popularity is largely due to his intense and sometimes controversial reactions during livestreams. Clips of his behaviour during livestreams often go viral on TikTok, further boosting his popularity.
Currently, he has:
– 30.2 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel
– 11.7 million subscribers on his second YouTube channel
– 30.5 million followers on TikTok
– 24.3 million followers on Instagram
– 343,000 followers on Twitch
– 721,200 followers on Discord
– 118,000 followers on Roblox
2. iShowSpeed grew to become a diehard Cristiano Ronaldo fan, introducing many of his American fans to football
Watkins built an online persona on his love for football, particularly his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.
He frequently mimics Ronaldo's 'siuuu' goal celebration in livestreams. His obsession with Ronaldo is often supported by fans, which led him to meet the Portuguese footballer in June last year.
Other than football, he also ventured into other sports such as boxing.
In December last year, Watkins held a charity boxing match against English YouTuber KSI after a year-long banter rivalry.
Just a few months ago, he also made an appearance in WWE at WrestleMania 40. He was part of a storyline involving YouTuber and WWE star Logan Paul.
Watkins knows his way around fame and often builds pathways to attract new fans. Sports is one of them besides gaming. His ongoing Southeast Asian tour is also a deliberate campaign to attract fans from around the world.
3. iShowSpeed is often embroiled in controversies, largely because of his hazardous stunts and misogynistic language
Watkins has been banned on YouTube and Twitch on multiple occasions.
In December 2021, he was banned from Twitch for two years after making sexist comments during an online dating show with TikTok star Ash Kash.
He asked if she would "reproduce" with him if they were the last two people on Earth. Kash answered no, to which Watkins replied, "Who [is] gonna stop me?"
His response was deemed as sexual intimidation, resulting in a two-year ban from Twitch. In his gaming livestreams, he also frequently makes misogynistic insults, and one incident led him to be permanently banned from Valorant and all other Riot Games.
His other bans from the streaming platforms involved doing dangerous stunts, such as lighting fireworks indoors and jumping over a speeding car. These acts violated the platforms' content guidelines.
4. iShowSpeed tried many Malaysian foods, such as nasi lemak, durian, Super Ring, apam balik, Ramly burger, and more
In his livestream yesterday, fans gave Watkins all sorts of local foods and he had liked all of them.
He said nasi lemak is a "W", a Gen Z slang for "win" that is used to express good, but he cannot handle the spiciness.
While sampling some durians, Watkins repeatedly nodded to express his liking for the fruit but choked on the seed after taking a mouthful.
He also loved snacks such as apam balik and Super Ring, saying the latter is "the best one".
When the livestream went on until the night, Watkins tried Ramly burger and gave it a rating of 9.5 out of 10, exclaiming "every food here (Malaysia) is good, bro".
Below are videos of him trying local foods:
5. iShowSpeed visited Uncle Roger's newly-opened restaurant in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
During his visit to Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, Watkins dropped by the newly-opened restaurant named FUIYOH! It's Uncle Roger.
The restaurant is owned by Malaysian YouTuber Nigel Ng, who uses the moniker Uncle Roger as one of his online personas.
Watkins loved the fried rice served there so much that he did a backflip to celebrate his fellow YouTuber's success in opening a restaurant. He also called up Ng and praised his fried rice while he was in the restaurant.
However, the restaurant was forced to momentarily close as his fans overcrowded the store.
Below is a video of Watkins tasting Ng's fried rice with a fork:
6. A fan allegedly got into an accident while following iShowSpeed's vehicle
At the 3:22:14-minute mark of his livestream yesterday, a fan who was following behind Watkins' vehicle is believed to have gotten into an accident after calling out his name.
The livestream did not reveal whether the fan was safe, but it showed Watkins being shocked after hearing a loud crash.
7. Fans tricked iShowSpeed into saying several swear words
From Bahasa Melayu to Hokkien, Watkins complied with fans' requests to repeat some words, not knowing they were profanities.
Below are clips of him saying the swear words:
However, some fans claimed that 'sabar' was Watkins' most-used Bahasa Melayu word during his livestream because he had to constantly remind his fans to avoid pushing each other.
Below is a video of him saying 'sabar':
8. iShowSpeeds attempted to be a 'mat rempit'
When his livestream reached the 3:33:00-minute mark, Watkins attempted to ride a motorcycle in an empty spot on a race track.
Below is a video of him riding a motorcycle:
Below is a clip of Watkins experiencing drifting on the race track:
9. iShowSpeed gained 120,000 YouTube subscribers during his livestream in Malaysia
A fan noted that his livestream peaked at 327,000 concurrent viewers and accumulated 1.15 million minutes of watch time.
The livestream video garnered a total of 8.5 million views, making it the highest in his Southeast Asian tour so far.
