Chaos at Somerset as hordes of fans rush to meet YouTuber IShowSpeed; police called in for crowd control

Days after YouTuber IShowSpeed's first livestream in Singapore was abruptly halted, the 19-year-old American returned to much fanfare as eager fans showed up in droves to greet the online personality.

IShowSpeed, known as Speed for short, had visited Universal Studios Singapore on Sunday (Sept 22). Shortly after the livestream started, however, he was told that live-streaming on attractions is not allowed and the stream was soon taken down.

On that same day, Speed left for a whirlwind visit to Johor Bahru and met the Johor Crown Prince, before heading to Cambodia and subsequently returning to Singapore on Tuesday (Sept 24).

Broadcasting his journey through Bugis and Chinatown, the streamer occasionally interacted with an increasing crowd of people, who followed him on foot and on bikes through town.

And as Speed tried his hand at the activities offered at the sports attraction Trifecta in Somerset, an even larger crowd of fans had gathered outside the facility.

Recounting the situation, an employee of a nearby hotel told AsiaOne she noticed "huge groups" of people running past the entrance of Orchard Gateway and across the road at about 5pm on Tuesday.

In their scramble to reach Trifecta, some people fell to the ground, she said, adding that police cars were also spotted in the vicinity.

The police had been called in to maintain order and manage the crowd, according to Lianhe Zaobao.

Later, Speed was again mobbed by fervent fans while leaving Trifecta for Sentosa. Bodyguards had to push people away from the motorcycle, and some fans in the rowdy mob nearly fell, according to Zaobao.

At the start of livestream at Bugis earlier, Speed raced content creator Kevin Wee of Radical Kindness and won the prize money of $10,000, which Wee said is meant for charity.

Wee said in a social media post later on Tuesday that he knew he was "likely to lose" the race and had wanted to "give a good impression of Singapore to viewers around the world".

He added that Speed had given $200 to a man who served him teh tarik, and "whether he gives the rest is immaterial".

In addition to winning the $10,000 sum, Speed was also gifted a figurine from the anime One Piece as well as the newly released iPhone 16 Pro Max by Luqmaan Hakiim, co-founder of viral candy store SGFR.

The 4.5-hour long livestream in Singapore has garnered over six million views at the time of writing.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com