IShowSpeed has recently been crowned as the best streamer in the world, and that kind of fame and popularity quite often attracts all kinds of individuals who want to share the limelight.
Enter White Speed, also known as Tiki or Gooonki. He’s a prolific iShowSpeed stream sniper who turned into a recurring character during Speed’s U.S. tour, and now he also popped up during Speed’s trip to Africa.
His latest appearances have reignited the same argument that followed him stateside: is he a forced plant, an overzealous fan, or a harmful presence?
Who is White Speed?
White Speed is iShowSpeed’s superfan who gained attention by repeatedly showing up during iShowSpeed’s “Speed Does America” tour. He was routinely matching Speed’s energy and antics, so the viewers started treating him as this chaotic mirror image and gave him the nickname “White Speed.”
Speed’s American tour was a long, structured, continuous travel stream across the U.S. White Speed noted that he had to sleep in his car to keep up with the tour, but this also elevated him from a random stream sniper to something like a recurring character.
He kept reappearing in different locations, to the point that coverage around the tour called out how long he followed along, and many clips framed it as a recurring safety-and-boundaries issue and not just routine fan interaction that Speed himself welcomed. White Speed’s increasingly more reckless stunts were also not received very well – for example, swimming through a swamp to surprise iShowSpeed could have been extremely dangerous and potentially life-threatening.
White Speed in Africa
In what was a shocking turn of events for many, White Speed popped up on iShowSpeed’s African tour stream. Dressed in a masked costume, he revealed himself to Speed, much to the latter’s shock and exasperation.
He kept trying to reappear, but Speed’s entourage did a good job of either keeping him away or diverting the streamer’s attention away from him. At some point, iShowSpeed’s security got fed up with these antics and issued him a warning never to disturb the streamer again. After receiving the warning, White Speed looked dejected and genuinely upset.
Left with no opportunities to stream snipe anymore, White Speed made a decision to leave Africa. In his final heartfelt message, he thanked the people of the countries he visited, stating that he would like to come back one day. Judging by clips on his TikTok, it looks like he genuinely had fun even outside the iShowSpeed context.
Is White Speed a forced plant, or just a persistent fan?
Opinions on White Speed are divided. The majority thinks that he’s just an overzealous fan who took stream sniping to a ridiculous and even dangerous degree. He may be harmless himself, but we’ve heard many stories about parasocial relationships with various streamers reaching tragic conclusions. Looking at White Speed’s antics, someone may have the same idea with a streamer of their choosing, and they may not react to rejection in the same mild way he did.
A smaller part of the audience, however, insists that White Speed is a forced plant by either iShowSpeed himself, or his management and entourage. It makes a little bit of sense – he’s a great foil to Speed, matches his energy at every step, and drives engagement and reactions from the audience. Some of the arguments state that you simply don’t reach Dana White by being a random stream sniper.
Though if it was all a “bit,” it overstayed its welcome by quite a bit, and the aforementioned danger of weird parasocial relationships still applies.
The latest development with White Speed leaving Africa could also be interpreted as either a real fan gets a real warning from real security and has to leave for real, or this is just a convenient way to finish a storyline.
Needless to say, stream sniping and bothering any person, even someone as public as iShowSpeed, is not a good idea and can land you in a mountain of trouble. Enjoy your streamers from the comfort of your couch through a device of your choosing!
