‘Youtuber’ IShowSpeed ​​shows “another” Africa during his tour

The YouTube and Twitch star’s tour, which started on December 29, took him to 20 countries, where he showed his tens of millions of followers another side of Africa, from a diamond mine in Botswana, discovering the rich cuisine of Ethiopia or attending the final of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) soccer in Morocco.

IShowSpeed ​​– born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. — is one of the most followed influencers in the world.

This month it reached 50 million subscribers on YouTube and Rolling Stone magazine called him the most influential content creator of 2025. According to Forbes magazine, his net income would be around $20 million.

Subscribers to his channel have enjoyed his tour of Africa. Some of them, black Americans, even posted quite emotional videos explaining how IShowSpeed ​​introduced them to a totally different vision of the continent, far from the hackneyed clichés of poverty and violence.

“He shows another Africa, an Africa that moves, modernizes, ready to achieve great things. Goes to places with modern infrastructure”Qemal Affagnon, from Internet Without Borders, told AFP.

“At a time when the US Executive can sometimes portray Africa in rather pejorative terms, he offers a different story. It is something that has resonated especially with his American audience,” said the social media expert.

In Lagos, a Nigerian megacity of about 20 million inhabitants, the influencer celebrated his birthday and also having reached 50 million followers on YouTube.

In Angola’s capital, Luanda, he was amazed by the warm reception he received.

“I love love in Africa. The energy here is crazy”he said, enthusiastically. On his stops in Kenya and Addis Ababa, he was fascinated by the architecture.

However, he was very careful not to touch politics on a tour that included autocratic countries.

Living up to his nickname “Speed”, he gave this tour the same format as other previous trips: with his teams filming it at a frenetic pace, between cultural discoveries and conversations with vendors and street artists.

IShowSpeed ​​started like many other content creators: recording themselves playing video games. But this football fan, and especially Cristiano Ronaldo, was not content with just sitting in his gamer’s chair, and traveled through Asia, Europe and South America.

It has won several awards in recent years, winning the ‘streamer’ award [realizador de transmisiones en vivo] of the year at the Streamer Awards in 2024 and 2025.

In 2023, he was allowed to return to Twitch after being banned from that platform for two years for “sexual coercion or intimidation.”

This trip to Africa brought him almost 4 million new subscribers to his YouTube channel in one month. His live performance from the CAN final had 15 million views.

But his popularity is not limited to YouTube: he has 45 million followers on Instagram and 47 million on TikTok.

“Being the first streamer from the United States to tour all of Africa is historic“said Nigerian YouTuber Stephen Oluwafisayomi, 24, known as Stevosky. “It is a very big milestone that he has achieved for the streaming industry,” he added.

Advertising that could please some governments, eager to attract new visitors.

“There are countries that are reaching out to some Afro-descendant communities and [la gira de IShowSpeed] It can be a link between those two worlds,” Affagnon said.

In Nairobi he met Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano and was warmly welcomed by President William Ruto via video. In Egypt he was authorized to do a live show from the Great Pyramid of Giza.

In each country he visited during his tour they gave him a soccer team shirt. But it wasn’t all smiles: it has also been the subject of criticism.

In Algeria, he had to interrupt a live show because some soccer fans started throwing bottles at him in a stadium during a match.

His tour of Africa will end this week and the streamer plans to take a DNA test, with the idea of ​​finding out his origins on the continent.

In Liberia, where many black Americans emigrated in the 19th century to reconnect with their African roots, he met someone who had the same last name and whose ancestors had left Ohio. “He is truly my ancestor,” commented IShowSpeed.