Darren Jason Watkins Jr, known online as IShowSpeed (or simply Speed), is an American YouTuber, rapper, and online streamer. He is best known for his variety livestreams, in which he primarily plays video games, including FIFA, Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox.

Watkins registered his channel "IShowSpeed" in 2017, primarily posting gaming content. From 2021 to 2022, he gained substantial popularity due in part to the circulation of eye-catching clips from his live streams on social media platforms. In 2022, he was named Breakout Streamer of the Year at the 12th Streamy Awards.

He is also known for being a devoted fan of the anime-manga series One Piece, and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he met in person in 2023.

Early life

Darren Jason Watkins Jr. was born on January 21, 2005. He joined YouTube in 2016, uploading gameplay videos occasionally. Around December 2017, Watkins began livestreaming and uploading videos of games such as NBA 2K and Fortnite, but only managed to average two viewers. Eventually, his subscriber count saw a rise in the span of a few months, reaching 100,000 subscribers in April 2021, 1 million in June 2021, 10 million in July 2022, and 20 million in August 2023.

Career

• Watkins began streaming in 2019. He became prominent in 2021 after his fanbase began posting clips on TikTok of his often-violent behavior during live streams towards games, players, and his camera, which gained popularity and became memes. His outbursts have resulted in bans from the streaming platform Twitch and the video game Valorant.
• In December 2021, Watkins took part in a Twitch "e-dating" livestream show hosted by Adin Ross. The exchange between Watkins and another participant, Ash Kash, escalated to what was widely interpreted as a rape threat. Watkins was the first contestant to be eliminated, and shortly after the game had ended, he quickly rejoined the Discord call and started sexually harassing Kash, slurring her repeatedly.
• In April 2022, an old clip of Watkins playing Valorant on a live stream surfaced. In the clip, he tells a female player to, "Get off the fucking game and do your husband's dishes." This resulted in one of the game's producers, Sara Dadafshar, permanently banning Watkins from Valorant and all other Riot Games titles.
• In July 2022, Watkins set off a Pikachu firework inside of his bedroom, almost burning it down. In August 2022, he was swatted while livestreaming on YouTube, officers handcuffed Watkins and his cameraman was forced to end the stream. Watkins claimed that he had been placed in jail and that Adin Ross had to bail him out, allowing him to return to streaming on August 11.
• In July 2022, Watkins set off a Pikachu firework inside of his bedroom, almost burning it down. In August 2022, he was swatted while livestreaming on YouTube, officers handcuffed Watkins and his cameraman was forced to end the stream. Watkins claimed that he had been placed in jail and that Adin Ross had to bail him out, allowing him to return to streaming on August 11.
• In November 2022, Watkins' viewers accused him of promoting an alleged cryptocurrency scam during a promotional stream where he wore branded attire from a cryptocurrency-centered open-world video game.
• In December 2022, he won the Streamy Award in the "Breakout Streamer" category during the 12th Streamy Awards
• On July 7, 2023, Watkins was a surprise guest in the 2023 Rolling Loud festival in Portugal and performed "Shake", "World Cup" and "Portuginies" with the support of American rapper Ski Mask the Slump God, and producer DJ Scheme.
• On a subsequent livestream on August 22, 2023, Watkins nearly repeated the incident before stopping himself. Watkins’ dad then made a song about the incident called “I Show The Meat” which was released on September 29, 2023. 
• In October 2023, Watkins met Daler Mehndi during his visit to India.

Musical career

In August 2021, Watkins released his first single, "Dooty Booty", on his YouTube channel. Following its upload, the song quickly became popular on YouTube and other social media sites such as TikTok. In November 2021, Watkins released a single titled "Shake", which sampled both "Ready or Not" by Fugees, as well as "Hit The Road Jack" by Ray Charles. The song's accompanying music video received over 160 million views on YouTube. In June 2022, he released a song called "Ronaldo (Sewey)", following his newfound admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo. In November 2022, he released a single titled "World Cup" under Warner Records in honor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Personal Life

• Darren Watkins was born on January 21, 2005, in Ohio, United States. He has a younger sister who has appeared in some of his YouTube videos. There is not much information about his parents and family. However, his mother has appeared in some of his YouTube videos. Darren’s zodiac sign is Aquarius.
• In a Q&A video, Darren shared that he enjoys playing football. This came as a little surprise as most of his fans thought his favorite sport to be basketball. His favorite food is pancake and he likes it best with buttermilk. According to Darren, he never listens to songs or any kind of music.
• He is yet to reveal his current relationship status.

Awards and nominations