Sky Sports removes IShowSpeed clips from social media channels as YouTuber's past misogynistic videos emerge

Sky Sports silently take down IShowSpeed clips (Image via Sportskeeda)
Sky Sports silently take down IShowSpeed clips (Image via Sportskeeda)

Darren "IShowSpeed" Watkins Jr. made quite a splash after featuring in a Sky Sports segment during Manchester United’s Premier League match against Fulham on Sunday. He was notably seen in an interview with reporter Geoff Shreeves and was even invited to the channel's studio.

Sky Sports' social media accounts released clips of the segment as well as other posts about his presence at Craven Cottage.

However, despite being well-received by most of IShowSpeed's fans, the clips have since been removed.

The content removal reportedly comes after Sky Sports management was made aware of misogynistic comments made by the streamer in the past. However, the organization has not made any official comments about its decision.


IShowSpeed's past comments that may have caused Sky Sports to remove him from official social media channels

Over the last couple of days, IShowSpeed has been traveling across the UK to watch his idol Cristiano Ronaldo play for Manchester United.

To that end, he first attended the Manchester United vs Aston Villa Carabao Cup match last Thursday. During the broadcast, he was introduced by Sky Sports as the popular Ronaldo fan who was heartbroken after finding out that the player missed the game through illness.

The YouTuber decided to take another shot by watching Manchester United's Premier League clash against Fulham on Sunday. However, Ronaldo was once again not included in the squad.

The content creator's presence at Craven Cottage was heavily publicized. As mentioned earlier, Sky Sports released multiple videos showcasing his interactions with various reporters and sports analysts before the match.

Here's an example of the clips from an unofficial source:

While Sky Sports has not specifically explained why the clips were removed, news agencies like The Mirror have reported that it is likely due to IShowSpeed's past controversies.

TW: Misogyny, mentions of assault

This includes the problematic comments he made on Adin Ross's e-date stream in December last year. His suggestive jokes about an Instagram model during the stream saw him getting permanently banned from Twitch.

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Another more recent example is from April this year. A clip of the incident was shared by esports reporter Jake Lucky and gained traction on social media shortly after.

In the clip, the content creator can be seen shouting misogynistic remarks at a female teammate while playing Valorant.

The YouTuber apologized soon after the clip went viral. However, he has since been banned from any titles made by Riot Games, including Valorant and League of Legends.


Twitter reactions

As news of Sky Sports' removal of the clips spread, many IShowSpeed fans took to Twitter to express their discontent with the decision. Here are some of the reactions:

IShowSpeed is one of the most popular YouTube streamers with over 14 million subscribers to his channel. His obsession with Ronaldo and his football content pulls tens of thousands of viewers to his channel on a daily basis.

The YouTuber is yet to comment on the Sky Sports controversy.

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