Famed streamer IShowSpeed learned a hard lesson during his latest stream overseas, understanding that sometimes with fame comes unwanted exchange with a fan.
The 21-year-old, whose birth name is Darren Watkins Jr., has been an online personality since 2016 when he started his YouTube channel.
At first, he built a fan base by playing FIFA, NBA 2K, and Fortnite online, where people connected to his authentic and enthusiastic personality.Â
Now, instead of streaming from his bedroom in Cincinnati, Ohio, heâs traveling the world and has amassed over 53.7 million subscribers. His popularity shows when heâs in countries like Asia, Europe and Australia. He is often followed by a group of locals of the country that heâs in, who tend to recognize him from his page. But sometimes fans take their excitement too far.
Most recently, iShowSpeed and his entourage went to the Dominican Republic. In a video circulating on Wednesday, May 6, they were seen riding in an open-door vehicle when a stranger gave him a smooch.Â
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In the video, the vehicle was packed full of people. Suddenly, a man wearing a patterned jumpsuit, a wig, and reindeer ears jumped on the cart.Â
People around the cart tried to pull the man off, but Speed continuously yelled at the driver to stop and said, âItâs OK. Itâs a reindeer.â
As they slowed down, Speed told the fan, âCome here. Come here,â to speak with him.
The fan, holding on to the side of the car, said, âI love you. I love your feed.â Very quickly, the man came too close to the streamer’s mouth.
Speed attempted to move his face back and yelled while other people around him got louder. But he didnât move fast enough before the man came too close to Speedâs face.
Suddenly, his bodyguard, who goes by King Hercules, swoops in, pulls Speed back and then pushes the man off the cart.
âBro, she kissed me bro,â said Speed, who looked visibly upset. âBruh, what the hell going on bruh. Bro, wallahi [swear to God], whatâs going on, bruh? Chat, wallahi, whatâs going on in the Dominican Republic?”
A second before the clip ended, Speed laughed, which indicated he wasnât as mad as he acted. But when TMZ reposted the clip fans had mixed reactions.
One person who didnât find it funny said, âThat was a violation for sure. Outta line.â
Someone else who felt similar wrote, âThatâs literally sexual assault people need to behave respectfully no matter celebrity or not.â
Another person wasnât sure if the moment was real. They said, âLooks staged.â Someone else said, âTime to tighten up security.â
But with the type of crowd Speed draws in, one never knows what kind of craziness they might occur. In China, he grabbed a fan by neck who called him the n-word multiple times.
During a trip to Austria, he was locked in a restaurant after fans flooded the doors trying to get to him from the outside. The same thing happened when he went to a souvenir shop in Norway.Â
Last year Speed told Forbes, âPeople were jumping on me. Sometimes, it gets too crazy, and I hate that. It’s always a way to have fun, turn up, get crazy, but, you know, still in a safe way. Sometimes people get too crazy, but it is what it is.â
The streamer is currently on a 15 stop Caribbean tour, which he began on April 25. But heâs already hit several places, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and more. Itâs unclear where his next destination is.
