Harry Brewis has raised over £250,000 for the charity with a 57-hour Donkey Kong 64 live stream.
Mermaids is a UK-based charity which supports gender diverse and transgender children and young people.
One of the reasons behind Harry‘s decision to host the stream was Father Ted creator Graham Linehan’s recent campaign to stop Mermaids from receiving a £500,000 Big Lottery Fund grant. The funding was placed under review in December 2018.
Mermaids revealed that it was going to use the funding to open up 45 new contact points around the UK to serve as points of aid and for ‘catch-up’.
In his announcement video, Harry decries Graham’s actions, adding: “Now tonnes more people know about Mermaids and want to support them just to spite you, good job raising awareness for a charity, genius!”
In retaliation to Graham’s actions, Harry decided to host a marathon charity live stream, in which he would play Donkey Kong 64 from start to finish, or in his own words: “I want to destroy Donkey Kong 64 so until that has been achieved, the stream doesn’t stop.”
Help pic.twitter.com/UYKjaH48w6
— H.Bomberguy (@Hbomberguy) January 19, 2019
50 hours into the Twitch stream, Harry was joined unexpectedly by US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They discussed the US government shutdown and overall political situation. On the subject of trans issues, she said: “It’s a no-brainer, Trans rights are civil rights are human rights.”
After US-based YouTuber Dan Olson probed her further on trans policy, she added “the war that we’re having is a cultural one. […] What we really need to do is have this conversation a lot more in our culture. [We need to] continue to reassert that equal rights means equal rights.”
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning and many trans rights campaigners also called into the stream to show their support.
After a total of 57 hours, Harris finished the livestream with a total of over £250,000 to donate to Mermaids.
Speaking to PinkNews, Harry says his initial goal for the stream was to raise $500, with his “most liberal estimate” being $3,000.
“I actually broke down and cried a little bit about $75,000 in,” he adds, “because, I’d really expected it to not do very well. Because I didn’t think that many people really knew or cared [about trans issues]. I thought that was part of the territory and that’s why it’s worth doing.”
The stream may be over but that doesnt mean the charity has to! please continue to support trans people who desperately need the money, my retweets are a good place to start but also make sure to check out the #TransCrowdFund !!
— The Skeleton Crew (@Teeth_Gang) January 21, 2019
In response to the stream, Mermaids CEO Susie Green said: “I don’t think we’ve ever seen this amount of support for us on social media. It was magical.”
We’ve just woken up to see that @hbomberguy has been playing Donkey Kong all night to raise money for Mermaids and is still playing!
So far he’s raised a staggering $26,000 and still has hours to go!
Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you 🙏🏻 https://t.co/UhyXMebL1s— Mermaids 🧜🏻♀️ (@Mermaids_Gender) January 19, 2019
Want More?
We spoke to Sammy Paul about dodie’s latest music video, and did you hear that Carrie Hope Fletcher is narrating an audiobook?
For updates follow @TenEightyUK on Twitter or like TenEighty UK on Facebook.
