For all the publicity campaigns FIFA have run for the 2026 World Cup, their partnership with IShowSpeed sits atop the list by far. The popular streamer is set to be on tour for the entirety of the tournament, live broadcasting from games in the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada.
The collaboration began with Speed releasing his own tournament anthem on June 1, ‘World Cup (Champions)’, that mentioned all 48 participating teams. As with almost everything he does, the song quickly went viral. A couple of days later, FIFA added the song to their official tracklist for the event.
The formal partnership was then announced by the 21-year-old on one of his streams on June 9. It was further made official when FIFA President Gianni Infantino handed him the first official FIFA Fan ID before the start of the event. In fact, Speed has even ventured into the mainstream with some matches being exclusively streamed on FOX One via YouTube Primetime Channels.
The association has paid dividends with several Speed clips already going viral since the World Cup began. Be it Zlatan Ibrahimovic playfully shoving him for supporting Portugal over Sweden or his reactions watching Lionel Messi score a hattrick against Algeria.
A few hours later, the Cristiano Ronaldo superfan went viral again when he saw his idol miss a couple of chances during Portugal’s 1-1 draw against DR Congo in Houston.
However, it has not been all smooth sailing for the high-energy Speed at football’s grandest festival. His overwhelmingly large viewer base and prominent public persona make interactions with a few bad apples inevitable, especially considering his content goes out live. Especially when those apples are green.
Speed was immersed in his trademark over-the-top streamer persona in New Jersey during France’s encounter with Senegal on June 17. However, things suddenly took a turn for the worse in the 72nd minute. Speed’s face promptly suddenly turned stoic as he sullenly turned to the camera and repetitively asked for the stream to be ended.
It was a reaction to a fan in the background continuously screaming ‘green apples’. Frustrated, Speed eventually turned around and launched an angry tirade at him, warning the person to stop trying to end his stream.
🚨| WATCH: Speed gets mad and tells his cameraman to end the stream after someone kept yelling “GREEN APPLES” during the France vs Senegal World Cup match 😭🍏
— Speedy HQ (@IShowSpeedHQ) June 16, 2026
– “Green Apples” is Speed’s code word for his team to end the stream pic.twitter.com/5X274qG7r4
The passionate reaction derived from the fact that ‘green apples’ has been Speed’s secret code to his crew to end streams for over two years.
The streamer in the past has used phrases like ‘dark milk’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’, until ‘green apples’ became a staple during his visit to South Korea in May 2024.
Towards the end of a stream lasting over five hours capturing a night out in the Asian country, Speed seemed to instinctively set up a date with one of his fans. While muttering to himself about it, Speed repeated ‘green apples’ thrice to the camera and the stream immediately ended.
Less than a month later, he used the same phrase to end a stream with fellow YouTube giants Mr Beast and KSI. Soon enough, it gained popularity amongst his fan base as an inside joke. Speed even began receiving green apples from fans in real life, while references to it ran rife during his streams.
🚨| WATCH: Speed just baited a cop into saying “Green Apples” to end his stream 😭🍏
— Speedy HQ (@IShowSpeedHQ) June 16, 2026
– “Green Apples” is Speed’s code word for his cameraman to end the stream pic.twitter.com/k1TKSRKvjq
The code has also at times led to confusion amongst Speed’s crew. Recently, during a routine interaction with a person in a supermarket, Speed enunciated ‘green apples’ several times while referencing an actual product. He quickly had to make clear to his cameraperson it was not a gesture to take him offline.
IShowSpeed almost had to fire his cameraman for nearly ending his stream after accidentally saying "Green Apples" 😭
— yoxic (@yoxics) June 15, 2026
– "green apples" is a secret code word to his cameraman or technical team to discreetly end his livestream pic.twitter.com/UEQTVgm5O7
At this point, several compilations exist online of Speed saying ‘green apples’ to signal the end of a stream. However, he has never clarified the reasoning behind using the phrase as his secret code. One would not put it past him for the phrase to be completely random, in alignment with his eccentric online personality.
Regardless, perhaps the latest incident could be a sign for Speed that it is time to come up with a new phrase. Afterall, a secret code makes little sense when known by millions around the world.
