Lionel Messi was the star of the show in the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony, winning his eighth Ballon d’Or trophy. With that being said, a solid supporting act to him in terms of going ‘viral’ on social media was the red-hot influencer IShowSpeed.
To the confusion of many, Speed was actually invited to the ceremony. He arrived all suited up. But in his typical goofy fashion, he topped off the suit by wearing sliders instead of formal shoes. That was only the start of what would be a memorable night for Speed.
Speed got to meet and interact with many prominent footballers before the event. The Ballon d’Or organizers allowed him to live-stream the entire experience on YouTube, where his viewership peaked at over 500,000 at some points of the stream.
The majority of his fan base and football fans wanted to see how the world-class footballers interacted with him and Speed did not disappoint. Soon after arriving, he was able to meet with Manchester City star and Ballon d’Or favourite Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian forward immediately called him out for his bizarre shoes (Adidas Yeezy sliders), to which Speed replied ‘what’s up with your hair bro’ before barking at him.
He also met with Argentina goalkeeper and Lev Yashin award winner Emiliano Martinez. Immediately, he posed him with the ‘Messi or Ronaldo?’ question.
Emi maintained his cool and was actually pretty chill with the overenthusiastic streamer. Soon after that, Speed also caught up with Portugal internationals Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias.’
Speed introduced himself as a Portuguese to them to their surprise. He ended up selling a whole hilarious fake story about how he was born in the USA before moving to Portugal. The streamer also asked the two to visit Ohio, where he currently lives and the Man City duo seemed pretty calm around him too.
As he was mingling with the crowd before the Ballon d’Or, he also met another player of the Cityzens. He ended up inadvertently meeting Josko Gvardiol as well.
The Croatian defender actually approached Speed and asked if he could take a picture with a friend of his. Speed agreed to do it, but had no idea that Gvardiol played for City before being informed by the fans.
When the streamer brought him back asking about the same, the centre-back simply denied this and ended up fooling him to everyone’s delight.
Speed would also go on to have another hilarious exchange with Tennis icon Novak Djokovic. He immediately asked the Djoker if he was a footballer, to which the Tennis star replied that he plays for AC Milan.
In typical Speed fashion, he bought into that lie too and acted as if he had seen him play for the Rossoneri. After all these theatrics were completed, Speed had to take up his seat at the Ballon d’Or ceremony and was seated well behind the players. He couldn’t really show what was happening in front of him (due to copyright issues) but fans could see his reactions.
Speed was even caught on camera during Rema’s performance of his hit song ‘Calm Down’ when the cameras panned to his reaction. The crescendo for Speed would come when Messi was awarded the Ballon d’Or trophy towards the end of the ceremony.
For some reason, he thought that Cristiano Ronaldo would win it – despite not even being nominated. He was severely disappointed and broke down in shock after seeing Messi win it. Speed also inadvertently started the standing ovation for the Argentine superstar after his win.
After the ceremony, he was involved in some more hilarious moments. It appeared that Messi’s children noticed him and glared at Speed for some time.
He was even ignored by Leo’s wife Antonella after asking her to take a picture with him. While Speed’s hilarious moments on social media have gone viral, not everyone is equally amused.
A lot of viewers who have little idea about him or are tired of his childish antics are calling him out for acting foolishly in such a prestigious event.
Speed, however, is unlikely to care because he got A LOT of interactions by appearing in the ceremony and was able to create memories of a lifetime.
