With over 20 million subscribers and counting, IShowSpeed is one of the biggest streamers on the internet right now, but being famous online isn’t all sunshine and roses. In an alarming string of events, IShowSpeed was swatted twice in the same week while streaming from his new home.
A video from Nov. 21 posted to X, formerly Twitter, shows the streamer noticing a disturbance while spectating a game. He removes his headset, and upon realizing what’s happening, becomes distressed and repeatedly exclaims “oh my god” before walking away to investigate.
A later image from the stream shows an officer aiming a gun in front of the camera, presumably directed toward IShowSpeed.
The streamer was thankfully unharmed from the incident, but during IShowSpeed’s next stream, the police showed up again after being called for the second time that week. In a video posted to X on Nov. 22, IShowSpeed answers a phone call from his assistant Slipz, who exclaims while on speaker phone that the police are at the door again.
Slipz is clearly irate and defends IShowSpeed and their home, explaining that when they first moved in, they explained to the police who they were to prevent incidents like this from happening. “We did everything we were supposed to do,” he says, adding that the police should have let them know in advance, because “people die from this.”
The streamer is visibly distressed, and says “I’m about to quit YouTube bruh, I can’t do this any more.” The video ends with IShowSpeed walking away from his computer, and he hasn’t been live since.
Swatting is every streamer’s worst nightmare. It’s dangerous, unnecessary, and can easily destroy lives in a moment—not to mention being illegal, with one man getting a 20-year prison sentence for a fatal 2017 swatting incident that claimed another gamer’s life.
Published: Nov 23, 2023 05:23 am