American live-streamer and YouTube star IShowSpeed landed in Singapore on Sept 22, following earlier stops in neighbouring South-east Asian countries.
In a live stream that started at about 3.40pm, the 19-year-old, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr, is shown wearing a blue Singapore football jersey and sitting in a moving vehicle.
“I don’t know much about Singapore,” he said.
More than 100,000 people had tuned in to the YouTube video two minutes after it started.
IShowSpeed, who goes by Speed for short, is then shown visiting Universal Studios Singapore. As he entered the theme park, flanked by minders and the attraction’s staff, several fans approached him for handshakes and selfies.
“I don’t think that there’s any other country that has a Universal Studios in South-east Asia,” said Speed, after posing for photos with mascots such as the minions from the Despicable Me film franchise (2010 to present).
The live-stream feed showed a black screen soon after a theme park employee was heard telling Speed: “We can’t do any live-streaming on the attraction.” The stream was subsequently taken down at about 4.20pm.
It is not clear how long Speed’s Singapore stop will be or what his itinerary is, but his followers expect him to attend the Gumball 3000 supercar rally, which ends on Sept 22.
In the comment thread on YouTube, some viewers suggested local places for Speed to visit, such as Northpoint City shopping mall in Yishun.
Speed, who hails from Ohio, started his current tour on Sept 9 in Thailand, where he apparently lost control of a tuk-tuk he was driving and crashed into a temple’s wall. He also nearly choked on a durian seed in Malaysia on Sept 17.
He had earlier done a similar cross-continental live-stream trip to Europe.
He achieved internet fame in 2021 as a budding content creator streaming himself playing games such as NBA 2K and Fortnite, with fans entertained by his over-the-top reactions to gameplay events.
Apart from regularly flaunting his physical agility by performing backflips for fans and by jumping over cars driven at him at full speed, Speed has also won the envy of many by being in the company of football stars.
As an attendee at the prestigious Ballon d’Or awards given out by France Football magazine to the world’s best footballer, the live streamer was seen rubbing shoulders with the sport’s leading stars from Real Madrid and Manchester City.
In April, Speed even featured in professional wrestling giant WWE’s biggest live event, Wrestlemania, making a surprise appearance as a sports drink mascot in a match between American professional wrestler Randy Orton and YouTube streamer-turned-wrestler Logan Paul.
During the match, Orton kicked Speed and performed his signature move, the RKO, on him while on a table.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
