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Updated September 5, 2025, at 7:19 p.m.
Hundreds of students and onlookers packed Harvard Square on Friday as YouTube star Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. made a surprise visit, sparking a frenzy of selfies, chants, and impromptu performances.
Watkins, 20, is one of the internet’s most recognizable streamers. Under the name “iShowSpeed,” he has built a following of tens of millions on YouTube for his high-energy antics, offbeat humor, and unpredictable livestream stunts.
Surrounded by bodyguards in the Square, Watkins drew raucous cheers as he broke into dance outside the Malkin Athletic Center, before stopping at the Owl, one of Harvard’s final clubs, to play dice with students. His campus tour also included a stop outside the Bow Street headquarters of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, where he posed for photos with throngs of fans who spilled across sidewalks and into the street.
Watkins was serenaded by a dozen members of the Harvard Krokodiloes and kick-danced with six members of the Hasty Pudding Club, who handed him a bag with gifts.
Watkins’ visit, livestreamed on YouTube, was part of his “Speed Does America” tour — a 35-day, 24/7 streaming marathon across a planned 25 states.
Before arriving at the Square, Watkins donned a Harvard sweatshirt and glasses he called “nerdy.” Upon seeing the first crowd of fans at the Lampoon building around 4:45 p.m., Watkins announced that he was “here for class.”
Upon entering the Lampoon, Watkins shook hands with members of the publication and social group — before one executive declared him an “honorary member.”
Watkins interacted freely with fans, repeatedly asking math- and science-related questions to onlookers.
“What is the perimeter of a five-edge square?” he asked, then added — interjecting an expletive — “what is a derivative?”
A student also invited Watkins to their dorm room in Ridgely Hall, where he jokingly declared that he and his entourage were now Harvard students.
“We’re super Harvard students,” he said with a smile, which was captured on his livestream. He then opened a window in the student’s room and looked down at the crowd of fans below, who cheered and shouted his name.
Watkins claimed in the Ridgley room that he had once studied economics, announcing with mock seriousness that his biggest takeaway was, “if you buy a stock, that stock may rise in value.”
“Just simple math, only Harvard students would know that,” he added.
Watkins’ visit is not the first time a social media icon has taken campus by storm. In 2022, Jidion Adams — known on YouTube as “JiDion” — trespassed into two classes and interacted with fans in the Science Center Plaza.
Watkins did not attend any class in the 45 minutes he was on campus.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.
