Donkey Kong, Trans Rights And The Power Of Spite

Powered by spite, Harry Brewis – better known as Hbomberguy – played Donkey Kong 64 live on stream for almost 60 hours. The world rallied around him and raised over $475,000 for transgender support charity, Mermaids.

A day later and the world continues to be a rad place in the wake of this gargantuan effort.

It started when Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd, tried to organise a defunding campaign against Mermaids, a UK charity that supports gender variant and transgender kids.

Youtube personality, Harry Brewis didn’t like that and decided to start a charity stream to raise money for Mermaids while playing Donkey Kong 64. The power of “fuck this guy in particular” is strong and the stream lasted over three days with a constantly rotating cast of celebrities and advocates calling in to show their support for trans rights.

In the end, he raised over $475,000 while completing Donkey Kong 64 to 101% completion in 57 hours, 48 minutes and 32 seconds.

https://twitter.com/Mermaids_Gender/status/1087268638728572929

[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/marathon-donkey-kong-stream-raises-over-350000-for-transgender-charity/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/01/Hbomberguy.jpg” title=”Marathon Donkey Kong Stream Raises Over $350,000 For Transgender Charity” excerpt=”It’s now day three of Hbomberguy’s marathon charity stream where he is trying to earn 101% completion in Donkey Kong 64. The Youtuber has raised over $350,000 for UK transgender support charity Mermaids with the help of a supporting cast that includes John Romero, Chelsea Manning and US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

And it all started to spite the creator of Father Ted.”]

It was an amazing show of unity in support of a group that is often left voiceless. For much of the final day of the stream, Brewis was barely able to find time to speak while everyone else had their say about trans rights, the state of the world and sharing their own lived experiences.

At one point, the voice of Donkey Kong himself, Grant Kirkhope joined the stream and said “Trans Rights!”

Kirkhope wasn’t the only gaming celebrity to join the cause. Doom creator, John Romero got in the action as well.

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez called in and professed her love of the Nintendo 64.

Chelsea Manning and a number of other transgender people – famous or otherwise – all spent time during the stream to talk about their lives and difficulties they have faced. Each of them helped shine a light on the reality we all live in.

The clips section on Brewis’s Twitch page is a magnificent highlight reel of some of the best moments of the marathon.

Even Scottish parliament got involved with the Scottish Greens tabling a motion congratulating Brewis on the success of the fundraising effort.

Someone bought grahamlinehan.net and redirected it towards Brewis’s stream. It has since been changed to a donation page for Mermaids.


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