YouTube streamer IShowSpeed makes a visit to MIT
The influencer visits the Student Center and 77 Mass Ave.
Photo Courtesy of Sol Robert
On Sept. 5, 2025, YouTube streamer Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. made a surprise visit to MIT, which drew significant attention from students and passersby. Watkins, who has over 43.7 million subscribers on his primary YouTube channel, is known for his energetic and reactive live streams. He is currently on his “Speed Does America” tour, a 35-day 24/7 livestream marathon in which he will visit 25 states across the U.S. Previously, Watkins livestreamed tours of his travels in continents such as Europe and Asia.
Watkins made a brief visit to MIT around 11 a.m. for about 15 minutes. According to the livestream, Watkins walked from 77 Mass Ave to the Student Center to purchase clothes at the MIT Coop because he did not want to wear his Revolutionary War costume anymore. “MIT. That sounds like a drug,” Watkins said as he shopped for MIT T-shirts in the Coop. As Watkins walked out of the store, students crowded in the lobby of the Student Center to take photos and videos of him and his crew. Before leaving the Student Center, Watkins asked if any students wanted a free MIT shirt and threw the shirt to a student who raised his hand.
Sol Robert ’26 appeared briefly in the background of Watkins’ livestream at MIT, before he left to visit Newbury Street. Robert was familiar with Watkins’ media content before he visited Boston and finds his streams to be “super funny.” She and her friend took a photo with Watkins and had a brief conversation with him. In the conversation, Watkins pretended to be an MIT transfer student. He asked Robert and her friend what they studied at MIT. “We were super excited since we casually watch his streams, and we did not expect him to come to campus at all, never mind call out and talk to us,” Robert wrote to The Tech.
MIT students also saw Watkins in Central Square and outside of Area Four in Kendall Square. “We started yelling at Speed to come to [the] EC party,” Audrey Perry ’29 wrote. “Speed asked for details about the EC party and got my friend’s number.” However, Watkins did not show up to the East Campus party on Sept. 5.
Xerco Tchouankeu ’29, an IShowSpeed fan, saw Watkins outside his tour bus, parked at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge parking lot. Tchouankeu appeared in the livestream several times and gave Watkins’ brother, Dian “Jamal” Watkins, a Chocolate City shirt that he ended up wearing on the livestream.
“I was so happy, especially when I was able to get a picture with him,” Tchouankeu wrote. “I’ve never seen a crowd this hyped before.”