Controversial YouTuber iShowSpeed has drawn backlash for his “racist” comments during a live stream at the World Cup.
A well-known fan of soccer and his favorite player Cristiano Ronaldo, Speed had been at the center of controversy last month when he travelled to see Ronaldo’s club Manchester United play.
Sky Sports decided to interview the rising YouTuber ahead of one of the matches, but later deleted all footage of the interviews after learning of Speed’s controversial past comments.
Speed later responded to the deletion of the videos, saying he understood that he needed to set a better example for his fans and resolved to continue to improve himself.
But many fans and observers are questioning that now after the latest incident on his livestream at the World Cup has gone viral.
iShowSpeed goes viral for “racist” comments at World Cup
Speed travelled to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup to take in a game of Ronaldo’s country, Portugal. Naturally, he decided to livestream the event. However, the stream ended in disaster because of technical issues with Speed’s phone.
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However, a clip has begun to surface online that shows Speed confronting a Chinese fan wearing an Argentina jersey. The fan appears confused at the question of why he is wearing the jersey, so Speed responds several times with the Japanese greeting “konnichiwa,” despite the fact that the fan repeatedly insists that he is Chinese.
no fuckin way pic.twitter.com/uvP8xbelcu
— Corn ✧⍣ (@upblissed) December 6, 2022
Immediately, commentors began to express their outrage at Speed’s insensitive comments. Several called it outright racist.
I know he’s still young and people make mistakes but I’m kinda over racist jokes towards Asians being “more okay” cause we won’t get in your face about it https://t.co/k2tB3koheN
— Kristofer Yee (@KristoferYee) December 6, 2022
he finds new ways to be unfunny, cringe and racist everyday, i cant believe this is who yall love and support https://t.co/V0lyIulC28
— _ (@jawairia_thfc) December 6, 2022
why is racism towards asians so normalised, it’s a joke that a lot people are acting like this is fine https://t.co/fUOtPpqUkF
— bella (@bellacfc) December 6, 2022
iShowSpeed responds to accusations
Speed has since responded in a video, saying that he genuinely believed the fan was Japanese initially, and then tried to respond to the man with “a nickname they call me in China.”
He assured fans and viewers that he did not mean the statement to be racist and attributed his attitude to the heat of the moment during a stream with the match still going on.