IShowSpeed may not know all the comings and goings in Philly, but Philly — at least young Philadelphians — seems to know his travel schedule very well.
IShowSpeed is the brash online persona of Darren Watkins Jr., a hugely popular 20-year-old American livestreamer and YouTube creator. His largely Gen Alpha audience knows and loves him for his high-energy antics, dramatic IRL (in-real-life) videos and global travels. He has over 43 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and 1.7 million followers on Amazon’s live-streaming service Twitch.
If you were traveling around town Tuesday and saw an unexplained crowd, it might have been Speed checking all the boxes for a Philly visit — trying cheesesteaks, exploring the Italian Market, visiting the Liberty Bell, getting a haircut on the street and making the “Rocky” run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The visit was part of a U.S. tour, with previous stops in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Miami.
He met up with Philly celebrities, too, including rapper Meek Mill. But one interaction that went viral made the case that the streamer doesn’t keep up with Philly sports.
Speed linked up with second-year Sixers player Paul George, only to famously ask him, “What are you in Philly for?” George’s baffled, “I play here,” went viral instantly.
Undeterred, Watkins went on to visit Eagles camp and challenged Saquon Barkley to a race, and learned how to pop a wheelie on Philly’s streets.
He also met Howie Roseman, asking the Birds GM what he does before bragging about his 40-yard dash time and claiming he turned down a football scholarship to Ohio State.
He’s been involved in several controversies, too. He was banned from YouTube for two weeks after a dangerous stunt in which he jumped over two speeding sports cars, for violating community guidelines. He has a history of making aggressive and sexist remarks to women — which led to a temporary ban from Twitch — and mocked a Chinese spectator at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in a way that many observers saw as racist.
