UK-based YouTuber Harry Brewis (pictured), aka Hbomberguy, has raised more than $340,000 for charity and made some huge headlines in the process.
Hbomberguy’s stream was not your usual charity stream. It was set up in response to the views of Irish comedian and Father Ted and The IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan towards transgender people and youngsters with gender dysphoria.
As outlined in Hbomberguy’s stream intro video below, Graham Linehan wrote a post on Mumsnet asking users to email their concern to the Big Lottery Fund about its funding of Mermaids, a transgender charity set up specifically to support young people. This £500,000 funding is now under review.
Irked by this and Graham’s ‘very angry’ views towards trans people, Hbomberguy set out to complete Donkey Kong 64 in a charity stream, with all proceeds raising money for Mermaids. And it’s having the desired effect, having raised more than $340,000 (around £264,000), making people aware of Graham’s actions and raising awareness of gender dysphoria in young people in the process.
The stream attracted the likes of Doom co-creator John Romero, games critic Jim Sterling, activist Chelsea Manning, columnist Owen Jones and even US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to name a few, who joined the stream as live guests.
The voice of Donkey Kong also pitched in, saying “trans rights – ok”.
The stream – which allowed Hbomberguy to finish Donkey Kong 64 in under 60 hours – has generated a lot of debate online over the weekend and is continuing to do so.
The news was picked up by many sites and publications across the web. A quick search of ‘Hbomberguy’ in Google News shows stories by Forbes, The Guardian, Metro, The Sun, The Independent, Vice, Dot Esports, Polygon and many others.
Graham has responded to the stream and others have celebrated the donations and awareness with messages and images online.
Folks, In the same way that you don’t tell anorexic kids they need liposuction, you don’t tell vulnerable kids with feelings of dysphoria that they need surgery and drugs. You certainly don’t tell them fairy stories about being “born in the wrong body”.
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) January 20, 2019
@Hbomberguy has now raised over 187,000 dollars playing Donkey Kong for Mermaids! #thanksgraham pic.twitter.com/VMkvxVRPF2
— Skutch will defend Speed Racer to his dying breath (@Skutchdraws) January 20, 2019
Thank you all. So much. I didn’t plan for this, and I never could have done. A lot of more specific thanks are in order when I can get to them, but first and foremost for the sake of best keeping track, donate from now directly to @Mermaids_Gender athttps://t.co/HvVtlEd5j4
— H.Bomberguy (@Hbomberguy) January 21, 2019
Unbelievable honour to join @parislees, @xychelsea, @AOC, @MaraWilson and so many other superstars on the @Hbomberguy stream to raise money for @Mermaids_Gender, a brilliant charity supporting trans kids. Donate here!: https://t.co/gcvNhw1aZz https://t.co/cKs401f3aV
— Owen Jones? (@OwenJones84) January 21, 2019
The news also sparked a separate debate around the purpose of the games media. The Quartering published a video on YouTube criticising Eurogamer’s coverage of the news and this particular tweet:
No, sorry https://t.co/VhPnXxOjyC
— Eurogamer (@eurogamer) January 21, 2019
We know this article isn’t about esports. We occasionally write about UK streamers and news in the wider gaming community too. Read more about our site content and coverage strategy here.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
