Showstar face backlash over racism accusations and “rigged” FaZe Temperrr fight

Andrew Amos
deji vs alex wassabi fight day

March 5’s Showstar boxing event featuring big YouTubers like Deji, Alex Wassabi, and more has been widely criticized by fans. Fighters have been accused of racism, while fans claimed the organizers “rigged” the FaZe Temperrr fight ⁠— and that’s not all.

Showstar’s UK vs USA bout was meant to be on the scale of some of the previous influencer boxing fights featuring big names like Jake Paul, Logan Paul, and KSI. However, viewers on social media have widely condemned the event.

While people online praised some fights ⁠— like Stromedy’s win over Austin Sprinz ⁠— others have been marred in controversy.

Ryan Taylor was disqualified in his bout with DK Money for throwing a headbutt, which caught the ire of referees and fans alike. However, some claimed that it wasn’t as shambolic as some of the other fights.

Three headbutts were thrown in the Kristen Hanby vs Vitaly fight, which ended in a draw.

Deji vs Alex Wassabi was interrupted by a TikToker jumping into the ring and stopping a round prematurely. The clip was originally tweeted out by Showstar who called it “chaos in the ring,” but it was quickly deleted and the fight was resumed.

Another big controversy came in the FaZe Temperrr fight. Representing the US, he looked like he had the upper hand on King Kenny outside of one flurry in Round 4. However, the judges gave the win to the UK representative.

After the fight, Temperrr called the result “f**king bullsh*t” and said he “gave that boy a boxing lesson”. Temperrr’s disdain was echoed by others on social media who called the fight “rigged,” and even FaZe Clan were getting in on the action.

King Kenny denied the claims though, stating: “Everyone in the arena saw I won that. I don’t know why people online are saying it’s rigged. Gonna review the whole fight shortly on a video and show why I won.”

However, one comment before the fights even began started the social media furor.

Halal Ham and his team were called out for racist comments made on stream. Big J, who was battle rapping before the start of the Salt Papi fight, said the boxer had “Chinese eyes.” This caught the ire of many online.

Big J defended himself on Twitter, saying “just like that, man’s the villain. People don’t understand battle rap I’m telling you.”

At the same time, Halal Ham apologized for Big J’s comments: “Apologies I didn’t know how [far] he was going to go, I’m sure you could see from my face I wasn’t impressed. I did say to him roast him on whatever, I should have been more clear.”

Showstar are yet to address any of the controversies that happened on March 5.

About The Author

Hailing from Perth, Andrew was formerly Dexerto's Australian Managing Editor. They love telling stories across all games and esports, but they have a soft spot for League of Legends and Rainbow Six. Oh, and they're also fascinated by the rise of VTubers.