Gaming

This Youtuber Has Been Playing ‘Donkey Kong’ For 56 Hours To Raise Money For Trans Youth

by Joseph Earp  21 January 2019
'Donkey Kong' is being used to raise money for trans youth charity Mermaids

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The internet: it’s that hellhole of bad opinions and worse politics that we can never, ever leave!

But every once in a while, the low-level stink that hangs over the cybersphere we spend almost every one of our waking moments submerged in dissipates, and the online world produces something beautiful.

At the moment, that particular rose growing out of the digital garbage is a livestream by the Youtuber H. Bomberguy, a two day-long stream of Donkey Kong 64 that’s already raised $350,000 for the UK trans youth charity Mermaids, and has managed to piss off notable transphobe and hate speech peddler Graham Linehan.

Two birds, one stone!

Linehan is actually the reason for the livestream in the first place. The washed-up comedy writer (he had a hand in not one but two overrated series: Father Ted and The I.T. Crowd) has pivoted these days to being a full-time hatemonger. He spends an astonishing amount of time online, spreading incorrect science and hate speech in an attempt to slur the trans cause.

Linehan was particularly offended by a recent decision by the United Kingdom’s National Lottery to allocate funds to Mermaids, a trans youth charity. Linehan (incorrectly) feels that Mermaids is pushing a radical agenda, and is spending a lot of time online complaining about it.

That’s where H. Bomberguy and his stream has come in. Bomberguy launched the stream explicitly to irritate Linehan, and to raise Mermaids some much-needed funds.

Bomberguy has been playing the notoriously fiddly Donkey Kong 64, and has been joined over the 56-and-counting hours by guests including John Romero, Chelsea Manning, and, excitingly, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the senator shaking up America’s tired and corrupt political sphere.

Not only has the stream been a much-needed resource boost for Mermaids, but it’s also been an opportunity for high-ranking members of the games industry (not to mention the political world) to push their weight behind the trans cause.

Oh, and an opportunity to tell an old, out of touch hack like Linehan exactly where they can spew their hatred.

Bomberguy is still streaming; you can check him out here.