On Saturday night, June 17th, a post went viral on Twitter: 18-year-old YouTube star IShowSpeed finally met his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. The tweet was viewed 90 million times. Why this is such a big deal for Ronaldo is explained on MeinMMO.
This is the situation:
- Americans like basketball and football, but they find our beautiful soccer boring and see it as a sport for little girls.
- In countless movies and series, Americans make fun of soccer, calling it “soccer.” They find it silly that passing goes on for minutes in the midfield without anything happening and in the end, it ends in a 0-0 draw. When a player dramatically falls after a tackle and writhes on the ground for minutes, they find it ridiculous and “typically European.”
- Therefore, soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo are much less known in the USA than they are here. The FIFA sports game series by EA hardly bothers anyone in the USA; they play Madden instead.
Who changes that? The young, black YouTuber “IShowSpeed” stands for 3 things:
- Gaming – where he has already been kicked out everywhere for misbehaving and often barks at people
- Rap
- Soccer, especially Cristiano Ronaldo
With this mix, IShowSpeed is extremely successful. In 2022, he reached 38.5 million watched hours in livestream on YouTube, placing him ahead of TimTheTatman, DrDisrespect, and Ludwig at number 1 among live streamers.
For years, Speed has been texting everyone about how much he admires Cristiano Ronaldo, calling the Portuguese his absolute idol and role model.
While most European soccer experts find the 1.87 m winger too cocky with his athletic play and we rather adore the technician Messi, IShowSpeed never tires of idolizing Ronaldo.
He has already tried to meet Ronaldo in Manchester, but ended up being photographed with a double to promote cryptocurrency.
In short: IShowSpeed loves Cristiano Ronaldo.
Tweet about a meeting goes viral, reaches over 90 million views
This was the moment: IShowSpeed has finally met Ronaldo. A tweet showing the two reached over 90 million views on Twitter.
In a video of the event, one can see (via youtube), that IShowSpeed kneels in front of Ronaldo and shouts, “I love you,” hugs him, and forces him to do his “SIU” rather half-heartedly. Speed even shows him his tattooed upper arm as proof of his immortal admiration.
Ronaldo remains quite cool and says his son has already told him that IShowSpeed would be at the event. He apparently knows IShowSpeed and is aware of his love for him.
IShowSpeed is known for his emotional outbursts. His fans love them. A phone call with Drake went pretty wrong the other day.
Young Americans only got to know Ronaldo through Speed
How is it perceived? As a European, one sees this and thinks: “Well, a superstar meets an 18-year-old fan and he completely loses it – it happens.”
But from the perspective of 22-year-old US streamer Adin Ross, this is a meeting on eye level. He says Speed has made Ronaldo even more famous. He himself knew nothing about SIU, nothing about the tricks, nothing about soccer.
Only through Speed’s fascination with Ronaldo did he learn about it.
He got a younger audience to know Ronaldo, at least that’s how I see it. You can say “typical American” as often as you want. It doesn’t matter.
Indeed, it seems that IShowSpeed has unlocked a whole new layer of potential fans (and merchandise buyers) for Ronaldo, and he only had to allow himself to be jumped on for a few moments.
A soccer player from Bayern Munich needed a new phone number after the meeting with Speed:
