One of the world’s biggest YouTube stars got more than he bargained for on a trip to Australia after falling victim to an epic prank in Sydney.
IShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr, is a 19-year-old American YouTuber and livestreamer from Ohio, commonly known as Speed, who is currently on tour in Australia.
With more than 33 million subscribers on YouTube, he built much of his career around his humorous rivalry with Lionel Messi and admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Speed is also recognized for his energetic challenges against famous athletes, including racing against Paris Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles in a 50-meter sprint, and for his daring stunts, such as jumping over a speeding Lamborghini.
In recent months he has appeared on WWE, met Cristiano Ronaldo and even met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Speed live-streamed his first day in Sydney, visiting a host of iconic local spots including Taronga Zoo and Bondi Beach.
YouTube star Ishowspeed has landed in Australia and is visiting a host of iconic Sydney attractions, live streaming them to his audience
Speed was stunned when this mobile billboard appeared in front of him outside Taronga Zoo
As Speed left Taronga Zoo, a horn sounded to get his attention.
He looked over and saw a mobile billboard with an image on it that immediately made him angry.
The billboard featured a photoshopped image of Speed appearing to kiss Messi while saying: ‘Messi is better than Ronaldo’
It also contained the message ‘As Speed sub to YT: @StanYM I am removing’.
That handle belongs to another prolific YouTuber Stanley Chen, who built his massive audience on celebrity jabs – now including Speed.
When Speed saw the mobile billboard, he went crazy.
“Yo, yo, yo, what the hell is that?” he asked.
‘What the hell? Come back, come back,” he continued to shout as the mobile billboard drove away.
Speed was not happy with the prank and demanded to know from the driver who was behind it
‘What the hell is this? Who’s in this car? Stop the car.’
Then things started to get tense as he pushed one of his assistants out of the way to get to the booth of the mobile billboard.
“What the hell is this?” he asked again to the bewildered driver who had just gotten paid to do his job.
The plot thickened when the ‘assistant’ who pushed Speed revealed himself to be Chen. The YouTuber later further mocked Speed for the stunt.
“I don’t know why @ishowspeedsui didn’t like my billboard photo,” he posted on social media.
The joke put a sour tone on the visit to the iconic Sydney view where Speed met a kangaroo for the first time.
“Damn, they look big in real life,” he said as the red kangaroo approached.
“You should see the males, this is the female,” the wildlife keeper said.
“Oh damn, look at those legs,” Speed said in awe.
“Powerful legs, absolutely,” the career in nature assured him.
“Chat, this is a kangaroo. Oh my god, you’re so cute,” he said.
Speed first met a kangaroo during a trip to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo – and it wasn’t long before he told the keeper he wanted to race the marsupial
Speed then asked what the difference was between the red kangaroo and the pademelons [another type of Australian marsupial] behind him.
After seeing the footage, Speed’s huge following began egging him on, challenging him to race the Australian marsupial.
“Speed versus kangaroo,” someone commented.
‘Can I race him? Someone said kangaroos are fast, I want to race him,” Speed asked the wildlife keeper.
That suggestion was quickly dismissed, but the zoo employee did tell Speed, “I think they would win,” which he strongly disagreed with.
“Yo, you wanna race?” he asked the kangaroo.
Unfortunately the kangaroo refused.