IShowSpeed celebrates 50 million YouTube subscribers while on tour in Africa

American YouTuber and online streamer Darren Jason Watkins Jr., known as IShowSpeed, meets fans at Independence Square in Accra [AP Photo]

The American streamer and YouTuber IShowSpeed is on the final leg of a 28-day tour of Africa aimed at showcasing the continent’s cultural diversity, which is often overshadowed by images of poverty and violence.

“I’ve done so many incredible things in my life,” he said during a stop in Botswana. “But this trip is different. It opened my eyes. Africa is not what I thought.”

The tour of 19 countries across southern, eastern and North Africa began in Angola in late December. He attended the Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco on Jan. 18, then visited Senegal, celebrating the national soccer team’s victory with fans, and Nigeria, where he passed 50 million YouTube subscribers and marked his 21st birthday.

On Monday, he visited Ghana, trying jollof rice, meeting a traditional ruler and receiving a massage at the shea butter museum.

“I am back home, there ain’t no better feeling,” the content creator, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr., said upon arriving in Ghana, revealing that his ancestry traces to the West African country. He’s expected to arrive Tuesday in Namibia, likely the tour’s final stop.

For his “Speed Does Africa” series, Watkins streamed live on YouTube. In videos lasting up to nine hours, he sampled local dishes, learned traditional dances and challenged athletes, often shouting in excitement. Large crowds of his followers swarmed him at many of his destinations.

Changing perceptions of Africa

Since the tour began, dozens of African American internet users have expressed support in widely shared videos.

Pape Seye, a 40-year-old resident of Dakar, highlighted Watkins’ visit to the House of Slaves on Gorée Island, a symbol of the Atlantic slave trade that sent millions of Africans into bondage.

“Americans, especially Black Americans, need to know that our histories are tied, that many of our ancestors might have been deported from Gorée,” he said.

Some critics have been more skeptical. Beninese influencer Nelly Mbaa, known online as Afro Chronik, said that Watkins embodies a Western expectation that young Black men be valued for spectacle rather than intellect. She said he’s followed not for subtle humor, but for performing “an absurd, exaggerated and grotesque character.”

“If he were to abandon this persona — the constant grimacing, shouting and controversial remarks — his audience would likely disappear,” Mbaa said.

IShowSpeed has more than 50 million YouTube subscribers, 45 million Instagram followers and 47 million on TikTok.

He has built his brand on loud, exaggerated and sometimes aggressive reactions that became his online persona, but also sparked controversy. In 2022, he was banned from professional online gaming competitions after a sexist outburst against a female player and briefly suspended from YouTube for showing sexual content in a video game. MARK BANCHEREAU, DAKAR, MDT/AP