US YouTuber IShowSpeed gains Ghanaian nationality at end of Africa tour

Pallade Veneta - US YouTuber IShowSpeed gains Ghanaian nationality at end of Africa tour

CULTURE 28.01.2026

US YouTuber IShowSpeed gains Ghanaian nationality at end of Africa tour / Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON - AFP

Ghana has granted citizenship to US YouTuber IShowSpeed, the country's foreign minister announced, as the influencer wraps up a month-long tour of Africa.

Change text size:

Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa said in an X post on Monday that following "confirmation of the irrefutable ties of IShowSpeed to Ghana", his government "has approved the issuance of a Ghanaian Passport to IShowSpeed".

"Keep making our great nation Ghana, and our beloved African continent proud. Ghana celebrates you," the minister said.

The 21-year-old African American IShowSpeed -- born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. -- is one of the most-followed influencers on the planet.

He hit 50 million YouTube subscribers this month, Rolling Stone magazine named him the Most Influential Creator of 2025 and Forbes estimates his net worth at $20 million.

The YouTube and Twitch star's tour, which started on December 29, has taken him to 20 countries, showing his tens of millions of followers a different side of Africa as he visited a diamond mine in Botswana, discovered Ethiopia's rich cuisine and attended the Africa Cup of Nations football final in Morocco.

Subscribers to his channel have soaked up his coverage of the continent, with some black Americans posting emotional videos of their own saying IShowSpeed had opened their eyes to a completely different vision of Africa, far from TV cliches of endless poverty and violence.

L.Guglielmino--PV

Jersey Boys Anniversary Tour Opens in Birmingham With Gritty Account of Crime and Fame

The 20th-anniversary tour of Jersey Boys has opened at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre, offering a gritty and unvarnished look at the Four Seasons’ journey. The production details the band's turbulent rise from New Jersey petty criminals to international rock stars, highlighting the complex personal costs behind their musical success.

UBC professor describes police call after Galloway remark as act of care

VANCOUVER — A University of British Columbia professor has testified about a colleague’s decision to call police to visit Steven Galloway after he was accused of sexual assault, describing it as an “act of care” toward the author, who had spoken of killing himself. Galloway, who is suing his accuser and others in a defamation trial centred on the unproven allegations, has described his subsequent committal to a hospital in the United States as “terrifying.

Pallade Veneta - US YouTuber IShowSpeed gains Ghanaian nationality at end of Africa tour