There are plenty of controversial YouTubers out there, but few quite have the fandom of Darren "IShowSpeed" Watkins Jr. and his hold on the streaming world.
The IShowSpeed YouTube channel has some 35.7 million subscribers, and while he's not quite at MrBeast levels, his career is on the up after he was named "Streamer of the Year" at the 2024 Streamer Awards.
Speed already has grand plans to buddy up with Elon Musk so he can stream from space, but before he can do that, he's made an unexpected swerve into politics - in a country you might not expect.
During his recent trip to Peru, IShowSpeed somehow managed to see himself named as mayor of its capital city.
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When visiting Lima on January 28, 2025, Watkins Jr. met with Mayor Rafael López Aliaga. IShowSpeed was there to celebrate the city's 490th anniversary celebrations, and in move that was even more unexpected than Speed's move into UFC fighting, Aliaga named the streamer as his successor (albeit briefly).
Before you get worried that IShowSpeed will be setting up shop in Lima and turning it into a steamer's paradise, he was only supposed to be the Mayor of Peru for an hour.
As well as being given the Ambassador of Lima Award, Aliaga presented him with a document that named him Mayor of Lima for 60 minutes.
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IShowSpeed was greeted by a crowd of thousands outside of the government building.
Standing in front of his adoring fans, Watkins Jr. said: "This is crazy...I did not know it was this much [sic] people."
Addressing the roaring crowd, he added: "I am now the Mayor of Peru, never will I forget this moment of being the Mayor, it means a lot to me...Peru stand, Peru."
He then barked to rapturous applause, pulled off the biggest 'SIUU' we've ever seen, and did a backflip off the balcony.
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Sadly, his time as Mayor of Peru was short-lived, and although he managed to negotiate his time up to two hours, it was over in a flash. Before long, IShowSpeed and his entourage were being driven out of the capital with a police escort of over 100 motorbikes.
Responding to the bizarre situation, many simply could've believe what was going on. One fan cheered: "Remember when half the internet thought iShowSpeed was just some annoying bumf**k?
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"Well, success is a decent measure of competence. More likely than not, the people you see out there that you don't know how or why they deserve it, are really competent at something."
Another added: "IShowSpeed might just be the greatest YouTuber in history in terms of worldwide relevance and ability to gain traction."
Someone else concluded: "There are streamers, and then there is IShowSpeed 🐐."
If you're questioning IShowSpeed's power, the Wikipedia page for Mayors of Peru even mentions the 20-year-old streamer's short-lived tenure. Some people will do anything for clicks, even if that includes becoming mayor of foreign country.
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It seems Speed's trip to Peru was a lucrative one, and even though he's been banned from YouTube in the past, this latest stunt earned him over 100,000 YouTube subscribers and reached over 500K concurrent viewers on his stream within the first hour.