Just like Latvia, Lithuania has announced it will not pay €30,000 to internet personality IShowSpeed if reports of his planned trip to Russia are confirmed, stated Karolis Vaitkevičius, advisor to Lithuania’s Minister of Economy and Innovation, Luka Savickas.
“First of all, the tourism promotion agency Keliauk Lietuvoje (‘Travel in Lithuania’) has not yet received an invoice. Secondly, Russia was not included in the list of European countries for the tour according to the influencer’s team,” Vaitkevičius told BNS.
“If the information about the influencer’s trip to Russia is confirmed and an invoice is submitted, it would not match the original agreement and will not be paid,” he added.
According to Vaitkevičius, a potential trip by IShowSpeed to Russia is sufficient reason not to cover the costs of his visit.
As previously reported, Latvia’s Minister of Economics, Viktors Valainis (Union of Greens and Farmers), stated on the platform “X” on Tuesday, the 22nd of July, that if IShowSpeed travels to Russia, Latvia will not pay him 30,000 euros, viewing him as a supporter of an aggressor state.
He also said he would call on his Baltic colleagues to take similar action.
Jānis Kovaļevskis, Deputy Head of the International Marketing and Communications Department at the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), told LETA that none of the Baltic states influenced IShowSpeed’s behavior, content, or future plans. The planned €30,000 payment from each country was intended to cover technical expenses such as travel, operators, and logistical support.
“Whether a statement about a future intention to visit Russia is grounds to withhold payment for technical expenses will be assessed jointly by all three Baltic states,” Kovaļevskis emphasized.
LIAA also noted that it has no long-term cooperation agreement with IShowSpeed — the arrangement was limited to the specific European tour, which included the Baltics and aligned with the nature of his content: live streaming to a vast youth audience, currently the fastest-growing tourism segment.
In his videos,
IShowSpeed has mentioned plans to visit Russia.
He has also expressed interest in becoming the first streamer to visit North Korea.
Due to IShowSpeed’s massive following, the Baltic states agreed to use his visit as an opportunity to promote the region as a travel destination, jointly covering costs of €30,000 each.
IShowSpeed, real name Darren Jason Watkins, has more than 42 million subscribers on YouTube. Given his influence and ability to reach a global audience, LIAA contacted the influencer’s team to use the visit to enhance Latvia’s international visibility.
During his visit to Riga, IShowSpeed live-streamed a two-hour broadcast in which he visited local sites such as Āgenskalns Market, Victory Park, the Freedom Monument, and Dome Square. The livestream drew over 120,000 concurrent viewers, and the recording has since accumulated 7.2 million views on YouTube.
Darren Jason Watkins, better known as IShowSpeed or simply Speed, is an American YouTuber, internet personality, and live streamer with a global audience. One of his content niches is travel experiences, which he broadcasts live, interacting with millions of viewers in real time. His audience exceeds 40 million on YouTube and 37 million on Instagram.
IShowSpeed also visited Estonia, where he met with Prime Minister Kristen Michal. After his visit to Latvia, he continued on to Lithuania.
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