Taxpayers are paying thousands of dollars for streamer IShowSpeed to visit their country
The content creator is becoming a tourist attraction of his own
In terms of meteoric streamers, few are doing it quite like Darren Jason Watkins Jr., aka IShowSpeed. Despite only being 20, the popular content creator has over 41 million followers on TikTok, 36.5 million on Instagram, and was featured on the TIME100 Creators 2025 list.
Speed even won streamer of the year and outlined his grand plans to team up with Elon Musk, but that doesn't mean he doesn't come with his controversies. As well as being banned from YouTube for a dangerous stunt, he also nearly burned down his bedroom when he set off a firework on a livestream, accidentally flashed his penis to 25,000 people, and was accused of promoting a 'pump and dump' cryptocurrency scam.
Still, Speed has a legion of loyal fans who've watched him win MrBeast's Total Wipeout competition, get pummeled by a UFC star, and race an Olympic champion. Watkins' star is back on the rise, and apparently, he can boost your country's profile at the same time.
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Reminding us of when YouTuber Max Fosh declared himself 'legally dead' and brought the spotlight to the unrecognised Italian micronation of Seborga, Speed is going on his own tour of the globe.
We've already seen the streamer briefly become the Mayor of Lima during a visit to Peru, but according to ERR News, Speed is getting a few more stamps on his passport. Speed's government-funded European tour headed to the likes of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, with each said to have splashed $35,000 of taxpayer money per stop just to bring him in.
Of this, €20,000 goes directly to Watkins, with the other €10,000 covering the likes of local logistics.
Tourism officials claim it's well worth the hefty price tag, with Kaarel Kõvatu, tourism marketing project manager at Estonia’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Foundation (EISA), admitting: "Every destination is fighting for the attention of the same travelers. We always take the opportunity when Estonia is featured in the plans of an influencer with a very large following."
In a video that's amassed over 1.9 million unique views, Speed met with Prime Minister Kristen Michal and was seen sporting a blue football shirt to honor the country's team. He also visited a sauna, went drifting, and met American football legend Robert Griffin III.
Proving the popularity of Watkins, there was an incident where a mass of fans climbed onto a floating platform just to catch a glimpse of him, causing it to break and them to be rescued from the water.
Justifying the spend, Kõvatu explained how Speed's predominantly US audience is a growing market for Estonia's own tourism industry. He concluded: "The value is also added by the social media follow up: hundreds of clips from the stream are already circulating with hundreds of thousands of views."
A recent trip to Lithuania was organized by Go Vilnius and Travel Lithuania, with Karolis Vaitkevičius, an adviser to the economy minister telling LRT a similar story to when Speed visited Estonia.
This time, he chugged down a glass of cold beet soup with Economy Minister Lukas Savickas. Even though IShowSpeed remains a divisive figure in the streaming community, the sheer number of people who turn up to see him proves how lucrative bringing him to your country could be.