About

IShowSpeed Wannabes, also known as Speed Wannabes or IShowSpeed Clones, refers to Twitch streamers that copy IShowSpeed's loud style and eccentric personality by forcing rage and saying, "Are you serious right now?" among other IShowSpeed catchphrases. They are ultimately labeled as cringe by video creators on TikTok and YouTube who expose them. The most referenced "Speed Wannabes" are DeletedMyPlayer (Dre2lit__), SheekLive and Whiteboyem who in early 2022 trended on TikTok under parody nicknames like "iShowAcceleration" and "iPresentVelocity." IShowSpeed, Kai Cenat and Adin Ross even reacted to and talked to the wannabes live on stream.

Online History

In January 2022, a TikToker with the username DeletedMyPlayer started getting noticed on the platform for his videos that were reposts from his Twitch channel with the same name. Both channels have since been deleted because during January 2022, DeletedMyPlayer received a lot of backlash because fans of IShowSpeed discovered his content and believed he was copying Speed. DeletedMyPlayer made a new TikTok^[1] account called dre2lit__ in February 2022 after Speed fans were able to get his account removed by spamming guideline violations to TikTok.^[4]

On January 26th, 2022, TikToker^[2] trizz.low reposted a DeletedMyPlayer TikTok, calling him a "Speed wannabe" and "ishowacceleration." The video received roughly 1 million plays and 70,600 likes in seven months (shown below, left).

Also in January 2022, a different Twitch streamer and YouTuber named SheekLive started receiving negative attention for allegedly copying IShowSpeed's style. On January 21st, 2022, TikToker^[5] SheekLives posted a video that received roughly 17,800 likes in seven months (shown below, right). The engagement was mostly due to fans of IShowSpeed seeing the video on their "For You" pages and making fun of him for allegedly copying Speed.

Due to SheekLive and DeletedMyPlayer receiving negative attention in early 2022, the concept of Speed Wannabes started building going into mid-2022. For instance, on March 26th, 2022, YouTuber CailX uploaded a video about "IShowSpeed Copycats" in which he talked about both DeletedMyPlayer and SheekLive, earning roughly 86,900 views in five months (shown below). At that time, Adin Ross had watched and reacted to SheekLive on stream. The clip was included in CailX's video.

Whiteboyem

In July 2022, YouTuber and Twitch streamer Whiteboyem started getting cross-platform attention on TikTok for being an alleged IShowSpeed wannabe. For instance, on July 13th, 2022, TikToker^[3] inxrss posted a video of Whiteboyem on stream saying phrases like, "Are you serious right neow, Bro?" similar to Speed's lingo and cadence. Over the course of one month, the TikTok received roughly 13.5 million plays and 2.3 million likes (shown below).

On July 15th, 2022, IShowSpeed reacted to the aforementioned Whiteboyem TikTok live on stream. The clip was posted to YouTube on the same day by the channel lmKaiCenat Live, earning roughly 22,500 views in one month (shown below, left). In late July 2022, Twitch streamer Kai Cenat talked to Whiteboyem live on stream. The clip was reposted to YouTube by the channel JustKJ LIVE! on July 28th, 2022, earning roughly 595,700 views in one month (shown below, right).

On July 24th, 2022, Whiteboyem uploaded an IShowSpeed diss track called "Right Now" to YouTube, earning roughly 1.6 million views over the course of one month (shown below).

Going into August 2022, more IShowSpeed wannabes surfaced on TikTok such as hoodmaculant, reposted by fans of Speed trying to out new ones. Additionally, content started surfacing from Whiteboyem's high school from his classmates filming him and calling him "fake IShowSpeed."

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References