Youtube streamer Darren Watkins Jr. (ishowspeed), better known as Speed, reaches new heights, racking up over 1 million simultaneous viewers on a single stream while on his trip in Indonesia. He set two records. One being surpassing his personal best, and the other becoming the most famous English-speaking streamer in the world, all while being just 19 years old.
Speed was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. From a young age, Speed was into content creation, especially on YouTube, where he enjoyed watching other YouTubers and streamers. However, like many content creators starting out, he received little attention and did not get many viewers. Speed mainly posted videos that were gaming related and struggled staying consistent. When the pandemic hit, however, Speed found himself with a lot of time on his hands. He began streaming consistently, which changed his life forever. In an interview with “Dazed Digital” a news network, Speed said, “I’ll be honest, I just stopped going to school and was streaming every day”.
Speed regularly streamed on YouTube, where his comical personality shined through. It was not his game play or skill that set him apart from other streamers, but it was his unpredictable and energetic actions. His loud reactions engaged his audience and were genuinely funny. Slowly, he began building a loyal following. Speed started gaining significant popularity in 2021, mainly when he interacted with other popular streamers making hilarious viral clips. These clips of his streams became famous, especially on the platform Tik Tok. Many of his interactions with his viewers through his chat and in game went extremely viral, giving him more opportunity to gain a following. Specifically, a clip of Speed raging at a game got posted on WorldStar’s Instagram, and his mother was not particularly happy about it. There were many negative comments about him, which she could not handle, and she asked him to quit YouTube and the other platforms he was on also. This caused conflict that led him to live with his father in Detroit, Michigan, so his mother could not make him stop streaming.
In Detroit, Speed shared a room with his uncle who gave him his PS4 to start streaming on again. He could finally stream again, and he began seriously streaming again at the age of 15. Once Speed had proven he could make a career out of streaming, he said, “I exceeded their expectations,” talking about his parents. Gaining more fans, Speed faced a lot of controversy for the out-of-pocket things he said, which eventually got him banned from streaming on Twitch at the age of 16. His apology came when he was 17, saying on his stream, “I’m 17 years old. I was 16 when that happened and made a huge mistake. It was stupid and immature. I immediately realized and apologized”. Speed changed a lot from this, and eventually was forgiven and began making better and better content.
All that aside, there is one moment of Speed’s career that set him off and spread his name out to the world. While streaming, he received a $1.79 donation from a fan that had attached text which read, “What soccer/football team do you support?”40,268 people are observing as the question is read aloud by a female automated voice. After inhaling, he replies, “Christian Ronaldo, SUIEE. As easy as that, friend.” His fans hysterical, as he completely pronounced one of the most famous people in the world’s name wrong. This clip resulted in Speed shifting his whole focus to soccer related content, specifically praising Cristiano Ronaldo, where he appealed to the entire world by streaming the game FIFA and started ramping up exponentially more viewers per stream. Even while having no background in soccer, Speed still did not fail to entertain.
This new passion brought Speed to new heights, meeting the most famous soccer players in the world, moving to Florida, and even getting a tattoo of Ronaldo’s face on his arm. Opportunities flooded Speed, especially during the time of the World Cup in Qatar. He recorded a song about the World Cup that went viral, went to the games in Qatar, and played in a soccer game with other famous content creators, all while streaming his adventures. Meeting Cristiano Ronaldo was the pinpoint of this era, and he truly grew a passion for soccer.
Eventually, Speed started collaborating with another one of the most famous streamers in the world, Kai Cenat. Having hundreds of thousands of viewers, Speed influenced the entire world, and going on his trip to Indonesia, he broke records. He had over a million viewers at one time, making him the most popular English streamer in the world. This is a well-deserved accomplishment, because Speed is a truly genuine person who has a connection to his viewers like no other. The streaming community is so unique because they can interact with each other and the people that are watching. They are a community of fans that talk to and relate to the streamer, which is why it is so popular nowadays. In an interview, Speed told “Dazed Digital,” “When I’m live, I’m just… live. Boom. It feels amazing. That’s why I love to be a streamer. That’s why I prefer to do lives. It kicks something in my body”.
