Streamer cut from TV feed after misogynist video resurfaces

Streamer, YouTuber and all-round internet star IShowSpeed ​​recently helped one of Europe’s biggest TV networks, Sky Sports, to broadcast English Premier League matches. That was reportedly up to the network’s executives found out about a video that went viral in April.

IShowSpeed ​​- better known as “Speed” – had been in the stands earlier this month to watch his team Manchester United play in the league against Fulham (and then against my beloved Aston Villa for the League Cup), and helped out in the process of showcasing segments of the channel and appeared on their social media feeds. Here is a (surviving) example:

And here’s another one (independently uploaded by someone who had the footage saved) showing him recognizing neither Jamie Redknapp nor Louis Saha:

Speed, who has famous streaming games like Fourteen days, NBA 2K and FIFAwas probably brought in by Sky to capitalize on his internet followings and alleged appeal to younger football fans, which at the time of publication sits at 13 million YouTube subscribers and 5.4 million Instagram followers (he is permanently banned from Twitch).

To date, however, almost all of Speed’s promotional material on Sky’s social media has been deleted (except for the single tweet above). the athlete reports that Sky made the decision after being alerted to a video that was circulating in April—one that became so notorious that we covered it– in which Speed ​​made incredibly hostile and misogynist remarks towards his teammates:

While Speed ​​later apologized for those comments, they were so bad that Riot Games didn’t just ban him Appreciationbut League of Legends also (his Twitch ban, meanwhile was also for misogyny, just a different Video). It’s weird – considering it’s been so widely reported that this tweet has 180,000 likes and 11.7 million views and it’s only been 7 months since no one at Sky even thought to google his name before putting him in the spotlight like that!