Tragic Details About IShowSpeed

IShowSpeed was one of the streamers who dominated in 2022, and he's only become more famous in the few years since, becoming one of the most-watched internet personalities around. Fans love Speed because of his extremely high energy and over-the-top reactions to basically everything that happens during a broadcast. No matter how his games go or what chat has to say, Speed will always respond with an exaggerated facial expression and some (usually good-hearted) yelling.

However, for as much as some people love IShowSpeed, the streamer has also been able to stay on everyone's radar by being a somewhat controversial figure. He has a tendency to take things too far, which sometimes means he gets himself permanently banned from games for toxic behavior or he nearly burns his house down (seriously). You never know what you're going to get with Speed, but you always know it's going to be, well, a lot.

Speed is a super entertaining streamer, but he's not all smiles and big reactions. Like anyone else, Speed has also dealt with his fair share of tragedy — and often enough, the worst things that happen to him are directly tied to his work as a streamer. Here are some tragic details about Darren Jason Watkins Jr., best known to the world as IShowSpeed.

Some people like to play a dangerous prank on streamers where they call in a fake police report to get a stream disrupted by the cops. Speed has dealt with so-called "swatting" before, and one time this "silly" prank resulted in him getting arrested. His bail was set at $20,000, and Speed might have spent a bit longer behind bars if Adin Ross hadn't gotten him out of jail. That particular incident was the most expensive swatting prank IShowSpeed has had to deal with, but it's far from the only time it's happened to him.

When Speed went to film a video with his crew at a local KFC after getting permission from the restaurant, his shoot didn't go quite as planned. Speed and his friends were streaming from inside the restaurant for a little while, but it only took about 15 minutes for someone on stream to call the police as a prank. Multiple squad cars showed up having been told that someone was up on the counter with a gun. While Speed was on the counter (something he claims he got permission from the restaurant to do), no firearms were involved.

The sudden appearance of the cops ultimately made for a clicky YouTube video title and thumbnail, but Speed was clearly frustrated by the whole thing. "See, this is the reason I don't do USA IRL s*** anymore," he said after being told to wait while the officers worked out what was going on. "Every time I do s*** in America y'all play too much." The police eventually accepted that this was a phony call, but the incident highlighted how careful Speed has to be when he goes out in public.

In July 2023, Speed uploaded a video in which he explained to his fans that he was in debilitating pain. An intense cluster headache was preventing him from even opening his eyes, much less following his usual streaming schedule. Things got much worse before they got better. IShowSpeed was in Japan at the time, but his visit was sadly cut short. Three days after his initial video, he made another post revealing that he was in the hospital.

Speed told his fans that he nearly died, and it must have felt that way. His extreme headaches turned out to have been caused by a sinus infection. Luckily, that meant that his life wasn't in immediate danger, but the pain led him to believe otherwise, especially as the infection made one eye swell shut. He explained what happened when he returned to YouTube in August 2023, revealing just how bad things got.

"I literally had the worst-ever sinus infection. It got super, super bad. And the sinus infection was causing cluster headaches," Speed said. "I pray none of y'all in the chat experience a cluster headache. It feels like somebody has a knife with your eye and are stabbing it from the back of your eye." Since then, he hasn't had another cluster headache severe enough to knock him out of the streaming game, and fans are crossing their fingers that it never happens again.

In April 2024, IShowSpeed got some firsthand experience with the WWE, and it didn't end well. Speed was at the United States WWE Championship to support Logan Paul's bout against WWE Superstar Randy Orton, and he went all out to support his fellow YouTuber. Sporting a full-body Prime bottle suit to rep Paul's sports drink, Speed brought all the bombastic energy that his fans have come to love, but maybe he should have reined it just a bit more. While standing on the edge of the ring, Speed couldn't help but lean in and interfere with the match, which Orton didn't take kindly to.

Orton came right for Speed and slammed him onto a table. Getting hit by Orton's signature RKO move is something that even highly experienced WWE stars try their best to avoid, and needless to say, Speed was utterly unprepared for what he experienced. Though the moment was clearly semi-planned, the hit turned Speed into a WWE believer. "I got RKO'd by Randy Orton, you know. [I'll] be honest, everything is real man," IShowSpeed said in a video to his fans, adding, "I'm going to be in the hospital for like one day, but I'm not dead, and I'm going to be okay." Don't anticipate IShowSpeed following Paul's path from YouTuber to professional fighter anytime soon.

The internet connects people across the globe and brings together communities that would never exist otherwise. It's changed the world for the better, which makes it a shame that the internet is also a place where the worst of humanity is often on display. IShowSpeed has seen the internet's ugly side plenty of times: The famous streamer has been the victim of racist comments and attacks for years.

Back in 2022, just as IShowSpeed's streaming career was really starting to take off, he found himself fielding donations from racist viewers. The viewers were sending money because the comment attached to the donation would be immediately read on stream. After a couple of hateful donations included comments about racial stereotypes, Speed packed it up and ended his stream early.

Though IShowSpeed is a bonafide streaming star these days, that hasn't insulated him from these kinds of incidents. In late 2023, he went out of his way to feature fans in one of his streams by FaceTiming them during broadcasts. It took under 40 minutes for someone to call in and unleash a barrage of slurs at Speed. He was able to ultimately shrug off the attacks and continue enjoying his stream with real fans for several more hours, but this just goes to show that no amount of success can totally shield someone from this kind of appalling behavior.

In late 2022, some of IShowSpeed's fans were ready to jump ship. The streamer found himself in hot water after he and his team had been promoting a crypto coin on his stream. Paradox Coins were part of a crypto game called "The Paradox Metaverse" that promised players the chance to earn real money while completing in-game missions. The game wasn't all that different from "Crypto Zoo," the game that got Logan Paul sued, and Speed's fans weren't happy to see him promoting it. "Bro makes like 250k a month, why scam your audience I don't get it," wrote one frustrated viewer on Reddit.

Other commenters pointed out that "The Paradox Metaverse" had some obvious similarities to previous crypto games, and many accused Speed of knowingly encouraging his audience to start playing a scam game. Speed definitely heard about the scammer allegations because he decided to address them head on: He talked about the crypto incident during a soccer-themed livestream. "I made a mistake. I'm not that smart, I'm gonna be honest," he said, adding, "I made a little mistake that I wish I never did, but I'm not a scammer, bro." Luckily for Speed, most of his audience didn't hold the mistake against him.

If you've been watching Twitch and YouTube livestreams long enough, then you'll know that it's not unheard of for streamers to get attacked mid-stream. Streamers have been chased down by eager fans and threatened by unruly viewers who used their livestream to locate them. While visiting Norway, IShowSpeed got swarmed by a massive crowd of fans, and the whole incident was such a disaster that Speed swore off the entire country.

A massive crowd gathered outside Speed's hotel while he was livestreaming, but disaster struck when Speed severely twisted his ankle while entertaining the onlookers at his window. He needed to be taken to the hospital, though the crowd outside had no intention of letting him leave easily. His crew was bombarded by fans while they tried to rush him into his car. Not long after getting away from the hotel, Speed posted on X, "NEVER COMING TO F****** NORWAY AGAIN." The incident left him seriously shaken, but he managed to get away without any lasting injuries.

Not long after IShowSpeed's disastrous Norway trip, he had another international visit go to pieces. Speed traveled to Malaysia, and even his viewers were shocked by just how quickly his IRL stream there turned into utter chaos. Fans on Reddit called out the fact that within three hours of starting his stream, Speed had been swarmed by a crowd, had his camera broken, and had the police get involved to safely escort him away from his legion of fans. "So rinse and repeat Speed goes to NEW COUNTRY his fans harass or hurt him and boom the cycle continues," wrote one Redditor.

Speed clearly agrees that his Malaysia trip was a bit of a disaster. On his livestream YouTube channel Live Speedy, he posted a compilation video from his livestream with a very telling title: He called it "iShowSpeed's First Time in MALAYSIA (BAD IDEA)." Over the course of the 30 minute video you can see that Speed summoned up a problematically large crowd wherever he went in the country, putting him and those around him at risk. The chaos of Speed's international livestreams definitely brought him extra attention, but they also put Speed into so many risky situations that fans might not see him take the same approach the next time he travels.

Some of IShowSpeed's goofiest stunts have ended in disaster, and this one was no exception. Speed was visiting the United Kingdom in May 2024 when he had the opportunity to become part of a quirky local tradition. Brockworth, Gloucestershire is home to an annual event called the Cheese Rolling where competitors race down an incredibly steep hill chasing a large wheel of cheese. The cheese wheel has been clocked reaching speeds of 80mph, so no one actually manages to catch it, but the winner is whoever can reach the bottom of the hill first.

If you're a Speed fan, then you won't be surprised to learn that he wanted to take part in this particular event, but his participation in the Cheese Rolling didn't end well: He injured himself during the race and had to be taken to hospital due to a sciatic fracture in his right leg. According to Speed, the accident wasn't enough to dissuade him from attempting the race again. "I want to do it again because I know how to win now," the streamer told the BBC. He didn't show up for the race the following year, but Speed's fans will probably encourage him to head back to Gloucestershire at some point in the future.

IShowSpeed's fans are well aware that he's accident-prone. Speed himself seems to be a little less aware of that fact. He regularly attempts stunts and internet challenges that put him in a bad position. Even the goofiest of internet challenges can suddenly become dangerous when Speed's the one attempting them. For example, there's the time Speed tried the elephant toothpaste challenge. The challenge, such as it is, involves performing a classic chemistry experiment where hydrogen peroxide, dry yeast, and dish soap get combined in a bucket. The mixture turns into a thick, frothing foam and the exercise is widely used as a way of getting people interested in chemistry. However, the experiment comes with a risk of chemical burns and exposure to toxic fumes.

When Speed attempted the challenge, his mixture started smoking. "I can't breathe," Speed started yelling in a clip from his experiment that got reposted to X. His team frantically told him to leave the room as it filled up with thick, dangerous fumes. The local fire department had to get involved, but after giving Speed some oxygen to breath, he recovered from the inhalation. No one should attempt the elephant toothpaste challenge without an experienced supervisor, and as for Speed, he should probably stay away from internet challenges altogether, as this one could have ended very badly.

IShowSpeed has injured himself numerous times while boldly pursuing internet challenges or bizarre IRL stunts, and things predictably went wrong when he purchased a $100,000 robot dog. He bought it intending to entertain his fans by showing off its incredible features. Speed achieved that goal, but not in the way he would have hoped. "This robot is very, very — it can be dangerous," Speed said at the beginning of a YouTube video featuring the dog, making it clear that he had "firefighters on standby in case something does actually happen."

While demonstrating the robot dog's back-mounted flamethrower, Speed accidentally shot fire at himself, with his pants briefly catching fire. Fortunately, Speed was standing right next to his swimming pool and was able to quickly douse the flames, but this really shows that Speed can take just about anything and turn it into a means of injuring himself. As he admitted on camera, this was a lucky escape that could have ended in tragic circumstances. "What the hell's going on? No more. We're not doing that no more. Oh my God. I could have got hurt," he said.

The most embarrassing moment of IShowSpeed's streaming career happened in front of a live audience of more than 25,000 people. In 2023, Speed played the popular game "Five Nights at Freddy's." The horror title is a sensation among gamers, and streaming fans love watching their favorite content creators get the life scared out of them. While playing the game, Speed was having huge reactions to all the jump scares just like any good streamer should, and that's when disaster struck.

At one point, Speed got so scared that he jumped up from his desk, thrusting his hips out and accidentally showing his penis to everyone watching the stream. As you can imagine, the internet was not going to let Speed slide. Very soon, the hashtag "IShowMeat" started trending on Twitter, and streaming fans from around the world started dunking on Speed. The only piece of good news in all of this is that YouTube didn't ban Speed for the accidental nudity on his stream, but his new moniker is something that his fans will never let die.