TW: Sexual harassment, offensive language, hate speech

Update 12/14/2021: IShowSpeed was banned for Sexual Intimidation, following his unhinged, violent rant against Ash Kash.

Original Article: Twitch Streamer Adin Ross had his most recent episode of his stream show "E-Date" go south over the weekend, after fellow streamer and music artist Darren "IShowSpeed" Watkins went on an unhinged rant, threatening to assault show guest Ashaley "Ash Kash" during the stream. Now viral clips of the incident have found their way onto TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube, acquiring millions of views and sparking outrage toward IShowSpeed for his treatment of Ash as well as other women broadly.

For context, Ross's E-Date show centers around a different female guest every episode, who then goes on brief, arranged introductory e-dates with various male guests throughout an episode, many of whom are personal friends with Ross.

While most of the interactions on the show are relatively tame, this past weekend's episode went off the rails when IShowSpeed used his "date" to ask a loaded question about reproducing with guest Ash, were it the end of the world. After she replied with a "no" and her reasoning, IShowSpeed threateningly said "Who gonna stop me?", repeating a  rape joke he has made many times over the years. He proceeded with this line of joking for nearly 30 seconds, screaming "you are not stopping me!" 

Ross eventually stepped in, muting IShowSpeed and telling him to "chill out." However, later in the same show, IShowSpeed unexpectedly joined the Discord room again, this time going on a different highly offensive and sexist rant against Ash. During that rant IShowSpeed repeatedly sexually harassed Ash and called her all manner of slurs before Ross eventually kicked him back out of the call, saying "Speed is crazy for that, I don't even know how he got in here. Sorry about that Ash."

During both interactions with IShowSpeed, Ash managed to keep her cool, though she was visibly upset and frustrated with the demeaning treatment she received from IShowSpeed and  Ross. While IShowSpeed was the major culprit of harassment, Ross let both interactions go on for nearly 45 seconds each before intervening. While Ross says he didn't know how Speed got back in the second time, he still let him go on his violent rant without immediate interruption.

IShowSpeed's threats spark outrage online

Many users online expressed their outrage at IShowSpeed's behavior over the weekend. Some pointed out that he has casually threatened rape in his music in the past, while others unearthed clips of him making the same "joke" threats to other people online. Another large group straightforwardly condemned his rants and questioned the mental state that goes into such a violent and reckless tirade.

Ash's dehumanizing experience on the E-Date show is the latest high-profile instance of the abuse faced by female gamers, streamers, and influencers every day. Many female streamers of Twitch have reported rampant levels of harassment from viewers and players in their games.

Female streamer PikaChulita told Pinknews: “I’ve been asked to see my breasts, feet, legs. I’ve been called a b***h, a w***e. I’ve had someone come and say they wanted to repeal the 19th amendment (that gave [white] women the right to vote). I’ve been messaged privately and asked if I’ve ever been caught masturbating. . . My experiences are very similar to so many other women. Many have even received physical threats.”

Ross has not yet released a statement regarding the situation, outside his initial apology to Ash on stream. We have reached out to him for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.