If iShowSpeed‘s latest boast is to be believed, the 19-year-old creator is about to reshape the streaming meta. Speed (whose real name is Darren Watkins, Jr.) claimed that he has permission from “the producer of One Piece” to rebroadcast episodes of the long-running anime series.
Speed shared the update on his stream. Though he didn’t reveal the identity of the One Piece producer he spoke to, he claimed that she put his channel on a whitelist so that he can stream One Piece episodes without retribution. He said the producer is “the only person who met Oda,” referring to One Piece author Eiichiro Oda. Presumably, that’s not a literal statement, but rather an expression of this producer’s power in the One Piece world.
Since its initial premiere in 1999, the One Piece anime has run for more than 1,100 episodes. Along the way, it has become one of the most popular and enduring cultural exports from Japan. Speed himself is a One Piece diehard who credits the show with pulling him out of a depressive funk during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has incorporated One Piece merch into his streaming setup and has dressed up as protagonist Monkey D. Luffy (as pictured above).
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🚨| WATCH: Speed reveals he’s been given permission by the One Piece producer to stream every episode of the anime live on his channel 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/I9F75FjeNh
— Speedy HQ (@IShowSpeedHQ) January 5, 2025
Speed has a penchant for making outlandish statements, and some people are not convinced that One Piece studio Toei would actually relinquish the broadcast rights to its most prized piece of intellectual property. After all, numerous streamers received temporary Twitch bans in early 2022 as part of the so-called “TV meta,” which saw the unlicensed rebroadcast of popular shows — including some anime series like Death Note.
Despite Speed’s history of unsubstantiated boasts, the Cincinnati native has become a global icon, and Toei could gain a lot by giving him the keys to the vast One Piece library. Some rudimentary polls have shown that a significant number of anime viewers watch via pirated sources, leading to a multibillion-dollar loss for studios. Whitelisting Speed’s channel would be a way for those rights holders to turn some of that unlicensed viewership into a jolt of positive PR.
A similar story has played out in the world of professional sports. In response to the high viewership earned by third-party highlight channels, leagues like the NBA and NFL have published thorough game recaps on platforms like YouTube. Is a similar shift about to hit the world of anime?
If so, the coming months would be a good time for Toei to authorize Speed’s One Piece marathon. With the return of the Straw Hat Pirates slated for April 2025, One Piece‘s owner is using promotional tie-ins to build hype. It looks like it’s Speed’s turn to become one of those partners.
