Massive crowds surround YouTube star IShowSpeed as he tours San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Surrounded by bodyguards and dozens of screaming teenagers, the influencer known as “IShowSpeed” or just Speed, took over the Bay Area Thursday.

SKY7 followed the massively popular YouTuber as he visited some of the most iconic spots in San Francisco, including Union Square, Pier 39, Chinatown and the Golden Gate Bridge. A mob of fans followed him everywhere he went.

Speed is on Day 29 of 35 of his 24/7 stream as he tours the country.

If you don’t know Speed, who was flanked by adoring fans everywhere he walked when we were with or near him, your kids probably do. He’s got more than 40 million followers on each of his social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

“What do you love about San Francisco?” asked ABC 7 News Reporter J.R. Stone.

“The energy, it’s so fun here, it’s so lit, everybody is turning up in San Francisco,” Speed said, wearing a Stephen Curry Warriors jersey.

ABC7 News spoke with him before he hopped on the carousel at Pier 39. Just to get to that location was madness.

“Speed, Speed!” chanted little kids sitting on their parents’ shoulders.

“I was over there and I was trying to see Speed and completely fell over and trampled, and then Speed picked me up, of course. He’s so nice. What a great dude,” Ruchika Sekar said.

Speed is streaming 24/7 on a 35-day tour of America and showed love to San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.

“The Bay is very underrated,” he said. “I feel like people tend to not shed a light on it, but it’s very lit here, it’s so fun here. There’s a lot of fun people here and fun things to do here, and I just did not really know about the Bay at all, so now I know, and it’s super fun here.”

His competitive sayings and barking are a thing online. He took all of that to Chinatown and showed off his moves.

He then went to the Golden Gate Bridge, where SKY 7 recorded him doing a flip off the railing and onto the sidewalk.

“It’s really just happy to see him in SF and seeing this community. It’s a real dream,” Danzil Ye said.

“He makes funny content, but also he travels around to different places, not a lot of kids right now can travel,” another fan said.

Speed wrapped up his night in Oakland, where he stopped at Hyphy Burger, was met by a giant crowd and some people put on a sideshow.

It seemed like a new experience for Speed, who was shocked at what he saw. He watched for a few minutes before getting on his way.

That illegal sideshow could have led to his live being taken down, but it was not.