IShowSpeed's 5 most controversial stunts

No other YouTuber-turned-streamer has experienced such a meteoric rise as Darren "IShowSpeed" has over the past couple of years. Boasting over 20.1 million subscribers on Google's popular video-sharing platform, the reigning Streamer of the Year has come a long way since his humble beginnings as a full-time streamer.

In spite of all his success at an extremely young age, Darren's nascent digital adventures have been marred by a number of contentious and controversial moments. While a lot of his 'eccentricity' and 'over-the-top' behavior can be written off as teenage angst and immaturity, there is no denying the 18-year-old has on select occasions stirred controversy and pushed the envelope of what can be considered socially acceptable content.

Over the years, be it thanks to his sexist tirades while playing Valorant or his infamous appearance in Adin Ross' e-dating show, IShowSpeed's 'toxicity' and contentious behavior eventually caught up to him and led to him being permanently banned from Twitch and every Riot Games title. This list delves into five occasions when IShowSpeed engaged in provocative, disrespectful behavior, or questionable behavior during his live streams.

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From exposing himself to lighting fireworks indoors - IShowSpeed's most controversial live streaming moments

1) Bursting fireworks indoors

Starting off this list is arguably the worst way to celebrate any country's Independence Day. During a 4th of July stream in 2022, IShowSpeed thought it would make for some decent content when he decided to ignite a Pikachu-shaped firework inside his room. Call it a lack of awareness or a state of absolute ignorance that prompted his actions, Darren was seen panicking as soon as he saw sparks and flames inside his room, even screaming out for his mom to help him defuse the situation.

Though the feu d'artifice did not actually burst and Speed and his family emerged from the incident unscathed, the local fire department was called in to assess the situation.

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2) NSFW Minecraft mod

To the uninitiated, Minecraft is a rather basic game with child-friendly elements that foster creativity and patience. However, in the hands of IShowSpeed, even this game was not safe to be played on stream.

During a live stream in July 2022, Darren decided to try out the notorious 'Jenny Mod,' a specific mod that allows the player to spawn an NPC character that functions as a companion within the game. The character named Jenny is often helpful for in-game activities, but most notably, the mod permits players to engage in s*xual activities with the virtual companion.

Though IShowSpeed tried his best to block out any actual s*xually explicit content while on stream, a brief glimpse of the acts managed to get a few seconds of screen time, leading to the Streamer of the Year getting a channel strike, a week-long suspension from YouTube.

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3) Threats of s*xual assault

The next entry on this list delves deeper into the aforementioned incident that transpired during Adin Ross' e-dating show in December 2021. Thanks to Speed and Ross' good relationship, Speed featured regularly in Ross's E-Date streams wherein he would match popular streamers with social media influencers for virtual dates over a Discord call.

During the infamous E-Date in question, Speed was matched with Ash Kash where he presented the TikToker with a hypothetical scenario. The hypothetical question inquired whether Ash would be interested in repopulating the Earth with Speed if they were the last humans left. Upon hearing Ash's reluctance on the basis of potential inbreeding in the near future, IShowSpeed passed a ghastly remark stating, "Who gon stop me?".

Recognizing the deteriorating situation, Ross decided to terminate the date, and Twitch subsequently imposed a permaban on IShowSpeed's account.

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4) Racist World Cup stream

There is no denying IShowSpeed has done wonders for spreading the popularity of football within the United States. It all started with a random donation that led to the creation of the iconic "Sewey" meme which eventually culminated with Darren traveling to Qatar in hopes of seeing his idol Cristiano Ronaldo win the World Cup.

Though CR7 never won the WC, one of IShowSpeed's live streams from one of the matches went viral for controversial reasons. The clip in question featured the 18-year-old bumping into a Chinese national, followed by the YouTuber trying to engage in conversation with the stranger. However, Speed decided to continuously greet the random spectator with "Konnichiwa" despite the man stating he was not Japanese.

The nonsensical utterances he employed in response to the individual have been widely perceived as offensive stereotyping of Asian cultures by fans online, leading to a lot of backlash for the 18-year-old.

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5) Exposing himself on stream

Wrapping up this list is IShowSpeed's most recent on-air "accident" that led to the viral #IShowMeat trend that took over social media by storm. While live streaming the popular indie horror game Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach" on August 17, 2023, Darren was taken by surprise by a jumpscare that led to the 18-year-old's over-the-top reaction which involved him jumping frantically.

During the startling jump scare, Darren's frantic jump led to him inadvertently flashing his viewers on the stream and the creation of the viral #IShowMeat tag. The live stream has since been scrubbed from YouTube.