IShowSpeed, aka Darren Watkins Jr., may only be 20 years old, but he has already built a successful $30 million empire, per Celebrity Net Worth. While he has garnered 1.3 million followers on Twitch, along with 43.3 million subscribers on YouTube and 5.4 billion views over the years, he officially started his YouTube endeavour almost a decade ago, back in 2016.
Beginning with uploading regular gameplay videos and livestreaming, Speed eventually began posting on TikTok as well, with the clips featuring his dramatic, energetic, and often violent behavior during livestreams towards games, players, and even his camera. These gained popularity in little to no time, as his content was seen as meme-worthy material by people.
Nine years later, IShowSpeed is now famous for his soccer-related content, variety livestreams, as well as in-real-life (IRL) streams in worldwide locations, and has been viewed as a cultural ambassador, since his visits to other countries showcase their cultures and inventions to both domestic and international audiences. Here’s a deeper dive into how he built this empire.
IShowSpeed Was Banned From Twitch in 2021
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 21, 2005, IShowSpeed didn’t take too long to gain prominence as his streams and clips of games, especially those of Talking Ben the Dog, FIFA, Fortnite, and NBA 2K, succeeded in earning 100,000 streamers on Twitch by 2021.
Slowly, he built his own small community through his streams that primarily focused on these games, with his meltdowns, often yelling, and even throwing things, a common occurrence in the same.
However, his crude and reckless behavior, coupled with his frequent derogatory, misogynistic remarks, really got him in trouble back in late 2021. That year, he was accused of s-xually h-r-ssing Ash Kash on an e-dating livestream Twitch show, before proceeding to hit her with offensive remarks on the Discord call (via Business Insider).
This led to him getting kicked out of the call. Speed was later banned from the platform for “s-xual coercion or intimidation.” Until October 2023, his account continued to remain banned, though he made up for that lost time by continuing to stream on YouTube and appearing in other content creators’ streams on Twitch.
But in this duration, he also garnered more controversies when a clip of him yelling s-xist comments at a female player made rounds on the internet, leading to his being banned from not only Valorant but all other Riot Games titles as well, per Dot Esports (though he did reportedly apologise, later on, for it, as reported by Business Insider).
And yet, as the controversies and backlash associated with him continue to be a key part of his appeal as the days go on, IShowSpeed has still successfully become one of the most popular online streamers and internet personalities in the world (see The Root). After all, the online streamer was even named the Breakout Streamer of 2022 at the 12th Streamy Awards and the Streamer of the Year at the 2024 Streamer Awards!
IShowSpeedʼs Various Antics That Have Made Him Popular Over the Years
While controversies appear to follow him everywhere he goes, it’s truly the numerous antics that he has pulled over the years that have garnered IShowSpeed this much attention.
Like when he set off a Pikachu firework inside his bedroom on Independence Day, July 4, 2022, almost burning the room down (via HITC). This attracted him so much attention that he hit 10 million subscribers on YouTube that very month. Later in July, he even received a community guidelines strike as well as a one-week ban on YouTube after he livestreamed his character expressing s-xual activity in a s-xual Minecraft mod (via Dot Esports).
Then, in August that year, he was swatted while livestreaming on YouTube as officers handcuffed him, reportedly placing him in jail before Adin Ross bailed him out (per Dot Esports). The month that followed saw him getting frustrated at English referee Mark Clattenburg for disallowing his goal to be offside while playing in the Sidemen Charity Match, even whipping him with the shirt he removed while celebrating (via Indy100).
By late 2022, his career once again hit turbulence when Sky Sports dropped him after his past misogynistic comments resurfaced (per The New York Times). Soon after, he was accused of pushing a crypto scam through a livestream, though he apologized the next day on live, insisting that it was an honest mistake and not an intentional scam (via Dot Esports).
Unfortunately, before the year was over, he once again made waves for all the wrong reasons. Shortly after winning the Breakout Streamer award, another controversy followed IShowSpeed when he mocked a Chinese fan during the World Cup. With the backlash immediate, he didn’t take long to apologize once the clip went viral (per Dot Esports).
In 2023, though, he bounced back in May by signing an exclusive streaming deal with Rumble, even getting to meet Cristiano Ronaldo in June. By August, he had successfully hit 20 million subscribers, though a jump scare in Five Nights at Freddy’s caused him to accidentally flash viewers, leading to the “IShowMeat” meme (via Complex). He ended the year by stepping into the ring with KSI for a charity spar, raising money for the Anthony Walker Foundation.
2024 kicked off with controversy once again when Speed adopted a dog and gave it a contentious name: ‘Nigga’. This sparked debate across his streams and fanbase (via Firstsportz). Soon after, he was in Qatar for Match for Hope 2024, where fans couldn’t stop sharing the clip of him slide-tackling Kaká (via Pro Soccer Wire).
In April, he popped up at WrestleMania XL in a giant Prime bottle costume, only to get RKO’d through a table by Randy Orton. The next month, he hurt himself rolling down a hill in England’s cheese-rolling festival, then again during his European tour when fan chaos in Norway left him hospitalized (via BBC News and Dexerto).
Still, he successfully hit 25 million subscribers while on his Europe tour, receiving over 2.5 billion views across numerous social media platforms, and surpassed 30 million subscribers on his Southeast Asia tour, accumulating a total of 110 million views during the trip. His livestream titled IRL Stream in Indonesia even marked the first time for an English-speaking streamer to have received one million concurrent views in a livestream (via streamscharts).
His other notable stunts that garnered him significant attention included his exhibition 50 meter race against the 2024 Summer Olympics men’s 100 metres gold medalist Noah Lyles; his since-deleted livestreamed stunt of him jumping over two speeding luxury cars in Miami; and his being announced the prez of the U.S. version of Baller League (per Times Now, USA Today, and BBC Sports).
While Complex ranked him the number one streamer in the world, IShowSpeed also used his platform for good, donating $50,000 to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (via Roya TV). At the end of the year, he was nominated for and won the Get Off Your A** Award (Best IRL Streamer), Best International Streamer, and Streamer of the Year awards of the 2024 Streamer Awards, as well as the Most Influential Soccer Creator award of the GOAL Champions Awards.
In January 2025, Watkins kicked off a South American tour, where he was briefly declared honorary mayor of Lima, Peru (per El Comercio). Days later, he made history at WWE’s Royal Rumble, becoming the youngest-ever entrant at 20 years old, eliminating Otis before being thrown out himself.
By February, he co-captained the soccer charity event Match for Hope 2025 in Qatar alongside Chunkz, raising over $10.7 million despite losing 6–5 to AboFlah & KSI’s team (per GOAL). In March, he hit another milestone, scoring his first Sidemen Charity Match goal at Wembley and sealing victory for the YouTube Allstars in a penalty shootout.
The rest of the year has been equally eventful, so far. His China and Mongolia tour earned praise from Chinese media (via South China Morning Post), though his Hong Kong stop turned chaotic with overcrowded fans. In May, though, he was swatted during his Cinco de Mayo livestream at a KFC (via Game Rant).
By July, Watkins launched a second European tour, returned to Twitch after four years, and stirred criticism in Latvia over state-funded expenses (see Public Broadcasting of Latvia). Later that month, he appeared at the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, even presenting the Goalie Wars winner with a champion’s belt.
Besides this, IShowSpeed jumped into music in 2021 as well, with Dooty Booty, a viral debut that lit up TikTok. His follow-up, Shake, went massive — over 200 million YouTube views. Then, in 2022, he dropped Ronaldo (Sewey) for his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, before launching World Cup with Warner Records during the FIFA tournament (see his YouTube channel).
The next summer, he shocked fans at Rolling Loud Portugal, taking the stage with Ski Mask the Slump God and DJ Scheme. Going even stronger, March 2024 saw the rapper release his first EP, Trip 2 Brazil, showing he was serious about music, not just viral hits.
All in all, Darren Watkins Jr.’s career has been chaotic, for sure, but that’s not all: It has been nonstop history in the making as well. And looking at how strong and tall he stands online now, it seems like he won’t be stopping anytime soon. Don’t you think so?
Leave a Reply