Darren Jason Watkins Jr., born on January 21, 2005, is a prominent American online streamer and YouTuber who goes by the name IShowSpeed or simply Speed.
He has gained recognition for his diverse livestreams, where he predominantly engages in playing popular video games such as FIFA, Fortnite, and Roblox.
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Darren Jason Watkins Jr.
January 21, 2005 Ohio, United States
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| Website | ishowspeedstore |
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| YouTube information | |||||||||||||
| Also known as | Speed | ||||||||||||
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| Years active | 2016–present | ||||||||||||
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| Subscribers | 23.2 million | ||||||||||||
| Total views | 2.1 billion | ||||||||||||
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Twitch information
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| Years active | 2018–2021 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Gaming, Entertainment | ||||||||||||
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| Labels | Warner | ||||||||||||
| Last updated: March 11, 2024 | |||||||||||||
Watkins established his channel “IShowSpeed” in 2017, predominantly sharing gaming-related content.
Between 2021 and 2022, he experienced a significant surge in popularity, partly attributed to the widespread sharing of captivating clips from his live streams on various social media platforms.
In recognition of his remarkable progress, Watkins was honored with the title of Breakout Streamer of the Year at the 12th Streamy Awards in 2022.
Early Life
Darren Jason Watkins Jr. was born on January 21, 2005.
In 2016, he became a member of YouTube and started sharing gameplay videos sporadically.
By December 2017, Watkins began live streaming and uploading videos featuring popular games like NBA 2K and Fortnite, although his viewership remained modest with an average of two viewers.
However, over the course of a few months, his subscriber count experienced a significant surge, reaching 100,000 subscribers in April 2021, 1 million in June 2021, 10 million in July 2022, and 20 million in August 2023.
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Influence Career
Watkins commenced live streaming in 2019. He rose to prominence in 2021 when his fanbase started sharing clips on TikTok showcasing his often aggressive behavior during live streams towards games, players, and his camera, which quickly gained popularity and turned into memes.
His outbursts led to bans from the streaming platform Twitch and the video game Valorant.
Kotaku referred to Watkins as “one of the biggest and fastest-rising streamers” on YouTube. One of the games that significantly contributed to his rise in popularity is Talking Ben.
Watkins’ videos on Talking Ben the Dog were acknowledged for revitalizing the mobile app’s popularity, making it the best-selling game on the App Store more than a decade after its initial release.
In December 2021, Watkins participated in a Twitch “e-dating” livestream show hosted by Adin Ross.
The interaction between Watkins and another participant, Ash Kash, escalated to what was widely perceived as a rape threat.
Watkins was the first contestant to be eliminated, and following the conclusion of the game, he promptly reentered the Discord call and began sexually harassing Kash, repeatedly insulting her.
Subsequently, Watkins was removed from the call, with Ross issuing an apology to Kash for his behavior. Watkins was later banned from Twitch.
As per a Twitter post by Watkins, he was banned for “sexual coercion or intimidation.”
In April 2022, a previously recorded video of Watkins playing Valorant during a live stream emerged.
In this video, he directed offensive remarks towards a female player, instructing her to stop playing the game and attend to her husband’s household chores.
As a consequence, Sara Dadafshar, one of the producers of the game, permanently banned Watkins from Valorant and all other titles developed by Riot Games.
Lester Chen, the YouTube global head of gaming creators, responded to the video, expressing his intention to address the issue.
Watkins later expressed remorse for his actions, acknowledging their inappropriateness, and mentioned that he had been subjected to racist comments from other players on that particular day.
Moving forward to July 2022, Watkins caused a hazardous situation by igniting a Pikachu firework inside his bedroom, nearly causing a fire.
Then, in August 2022, he attempted to cheat in his “United States and Global Economics” course at the Ohio Digital Learning School by soliciting answers from his viewers.
However, his viewers took advantage of the situation and intentionally provided him with incorrect answers, resulting in him receiving a score of 0 out of 10 on the test.
In September 2022, Watkins participated in the Sidemen Charity Football Match, where he encountered a moment of frustration with English referee Mark Clattenburg.
This frustration arose when his goal was disallowed for being offside. In his celebration, Watkins removed his shirt and used it to whip the air in frustration, resulting in him receiving a yellow card.
Later in the match, a pitch invader approached Watkins carrying a Messi jersey, which he promptly discarded by tossing it onto the floor.
Moving on to November 2022, American rapper and singer Lil Nas X made his live streaming debut and appeared on Watkins’ stream.
In July 2022, Watkins faced consequences on YouTube after livestreaming explicit content from a sexual Minecraft mod called “Jenny’s Mod” to a large audience of 96,000 viewers.
This led to a community guidelines strike and a one-week ban on his channel. Initially, Watkins attempted to censor the screen during the explicit scenes, but he continuously switched between censored and uncensored views.
Eventually, he left the screen uncensored, resulting in his character engaging in sexual activity. Watkins acknowledged the strike and announced that he would not be returning to YouTube.
In August 2022, while livestreaming on YouTube, Watkins experienced a swatting incident. Officers arrived at his location, handcuffed him, and forced his cameraman to end the stream.
Watkins claimed that he was taken to jail but was later bailed out by Adin Ross, allowing him to resume streaming on August 11.
In November 2022, Sky Sports made the decision to cease featuring Watkins on their platform due to the emergence of past misogynistic and derogatory comments made by him.
As a result, all content featuring Watkins was removed from the platform. However, in December 2022, he achieved recognition by winning the Streamy Award in the “Breakout Streamer” category during the 12th Streamy Awards.
During November and December 2022, Watkins embarked on a journey to various football stadiums in an attempt to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play live.
He visited stadiums such as Old Trafford, Craven Cottage, and several others in Qatar. Unfortunately, Ronaldo was benched during those games, until Portugal’s loss to Morocco.
In May 2023, Watkins announced he signed an exclusive streaming deal with the video sharing platform Rumble, in collaboration with Kai Cenat. In October 2023, Watkins met Daler Mehndi during his visit to India.
In December 2022, during the Round of 16 match between Portugal and Switzerland, Watkins sparked controversy for his actions towards a Chinese spectator at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which many viewed as racist.
In a live stream, he approached a man in an Argentina jersey, who expressed confusion as he did not speak English. This led Watkins to repeatedly say “Konnichiwa”, a Japanese greeting, and make sounds resembling Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
After a clip of the incident circulated online, Watkins posted an apology video on his Twitter account.
In February 2023, Watkins released a brief video on one of his secondary channels revealing his involvement with Thumb Media Affiliate and Cardigan, two copyright companies that had been claiming ad revenue or taking down videos from channels using clips from his streams.
It was also discovered that Adin Ross, one of his associates, was connected to these companies. Following this revelation, Watkins faced backlash from his community.
On August 16, 2023, during a livestream, Watkins accidentally exposed himself to a live audience of 25,000 people after being startled while playing Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach.
He quickly ended the stream out of embarrassment. The clip was shared on social media, leading to the term “IShowMeat” trending on Reddit and Twitter. Despite the incident being unintentional, YouTube chose not to take action against his channel.
Music Career
In August 2021, Watkins unveiled his debut single, “Dooty Booty”, on his YouTube channel.
Subsequently, the track gained rapid popularity on YouTube and various other social media platforms like TikTok.
In November, Watkins dropped another single titled “Shake”, which incorporated samples from both “Ready or Not” by Fugees and “Hit The Road Jack” by Ray Charles.
The accompanying music video for the song amassed over 160 million views on YouTube.
In June 2022, he released a song named “Ronaldo (Sewey)”, inspired by his newfound admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.
On July 7, 2023, Watkins made a surprise appearance at the 2023 Rolling Loud festival in Portugal, where he performed “Shake”, “World Cup”, and “Portuginies” with the assistance of American rapper Ski Mask the Slump God and producer DJ Scheme.
In November, he unveiled another single titled “World Cup” under Warner Records as a tribute to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Philanthropy
Discography
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRE | NLD Tip |
NZ Hot |
SWE Heat. |
UK [54] |
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| “Dooty Booty” | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| “Shake” | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| “God Is Good” | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| “Ronaldo (Sewey)” | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| “World Cup” | 37 | 1 | 29 | 6 | 52 | ||
| “Dogs” (with Kai Cenat) |
2023 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| “Portuginies” | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| “Come My Way” | — | — | — | — | — | ||
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | The Sidemen Story | Himself | Documentary; Cameo |
| Year | Title | Artist(s) | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | “Let’s Go” | Tion Wayne feat. Aitch | Himself | |
| “Don’t Lie” | A1 x J1 feat. Nemzzz |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Streamy Awards | Streamer of the Year | Nominated | |
| Breakout Streamer | Won | |||
| 2023 | Streamy Awards | Streamer of the Year | Nominated | |
| Variety Streamer | Won |
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, IShowSpeed Net Worth is range between $7 million to $10 million as of 2023.
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