You can always expect there to be chaos and unexpected moments whenever an international celeb visits Malaysia, especially during concerts. Thankfully with K-pop artists, most fans try to keep their distance and respect the idols’ personal space during their exploration around Kuala Lumpur.
Unfortunately for this famous YouTuber-Influencer, many were seen running around KL just to catch a glimpse of him as soon as they heard he was in town. Darren Jason Watkins Jr., known online as IShowSpeed or simply Speed, is currently on his Southeast Asia tour where he has been interacting with fans and experiencing the culture of each country he visited and Malaysia was his latest stop.
According to fans and multiple videos posted on social media, Speed was spotted at these 3 popular locations: Hilton KL, Pavilion KL, and Suria KLCC. Throughout his entire visit, the streamer was swarmed with ecstatic fans. In one video, a crowd was seen chasing the content creator down when he was at Suria KLCC. On the same day, during his visit to Uncle Roger’s restaurant in Pavilion KL, the establishment had no choice but to close its shutter doors as fans’ excitement was getting a little too out of control.
While most celebs are used to being surrounded by admirers, Speed was upset by how chaotic the situation got during his visit. The influencer vented his frustration in his livestream about Malaysian fans not respecting his space. “If 80% of them listened, everything would’ve been okay but none of them listened. They don’t listen! I’ll be like, ‘Chill! Chill, Malaysia!’ but they don’t listen!” he said during the broadcast on his YouTube channel.
After videos of his visit went viral, Malaysians were disappointed by how the YouTuber was treated. Many felt bad at how local fans behaved in public. Others criticised these so-called fans for not respecting the internet celeb’s space despite him personally requesting them to calm down. Some brought up the unpleasant time Swedish YouTuber Pewdiepie and his wife Marzia had when they last visited Malaysia.
Thankfully, despite the chaos, the 19-year-old did enjoy his time around the city. He filmed his appearance for local rapper iSARB Naveind’s upcoming music video, tried Ramly Burger and took selfies with his Malaysian fans whenever they spotted him in public. After all that’s happened, we’re not entirely sure if Speed would even consider coming back to Malaysia in the future. If he does, let’s hope that fans will be more respectful.
Watch Speed’s expressing his frustration about the Malaysian crowd:
@mychildishstory3 disappointed and disgusted (ishowspeed got mad at Malaysians) #southeastasia #ishowspeed #malaysia
Some videos of fans chasing and swarming him in different parts of KL:
@brianleemy Uncle Roger’s Restaurant Fuiyoh forced to close down due to the overwhelm lost control fans of famous IShowSpeed (his stream went over 30million & he rated Uncle Roger’s Fried Rice 9/10) #uncleroger #nigelng #ishowspeed #speed #streamer #youtuber #pavilionkl #fuiyoh #kualalumpur #malaysia
@shazwanshahmin aiyoo @IShowSpeed #ishowspeed #pavillion #malaysia
@malaysiatribune Speed cemas diserbu peminat ketika berada di Malaysia #speed #ispeedshow #rapper #americanrapper #streamerclip #klcc speedinmalaysia
