Destiny (streamer)
Steven Kenneth Bonnell II (born December 12, 1988), known online as Destiny, is an American internet personality and political commentator. He was among the first people to stream video games online full-time and received attention as a pioneer of the industry.[4] Since 2016, he has garnered further attention for live-streaming political debates with other online personalities, in which he advocates for progressive and liberal politics.[5][6] Since 2022, he has become one of the foremost opponents of Red Pill politics and the Manosphere movement.
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| Born | Steven Kenneth Bonnell II December 12, 1988 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. | ||||||
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| Spouse | Melina Göransson (m. 2021) | ||||||
| Website | destiny | ||||||
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| Years active | 2013–present | ||||||
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| Subscribers | 650,000 | ||||||
| Associated acts | Sam Seder | ||||||
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Twitch information | |||||||
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| Years active | 2011–2022 | ||||||
| Genre | Politics/Gaming | ||||||
| Followers | 699,700 (before his indefinite suspension) | ||||||
Last updated: 25 April 2023 | |||||||
Early life
Steven Kenneth Bonnell II was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 12, 1988, to a Cuban-American mother and a White-American father.[5] He was raised in a conservative Catholic home,[5] and he attended Creighton Preparatory School, a private Jesuit high school for boys.[6] When he was a pre-teen, his mother's home day care business collapsed, and his family's home was foreclosed.[6] A few years later his parents moved to take care of an aging relative, after which he lived with his grandmother until he was 18.[5]
In 2007, Bonnell enrolled at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, where he studied music while working night shifts as a restaurant manager at a casino. Ultimately unable to juggle both his education and full-time work, Bonnell dropped out of college in 2010. Soon after, he was fired from his restaurant position, and found work as a carpet cleaner.[5][6]
Career
In 2011, Bonnell quit his job as a carpet cleaner to stream video games full-time. Streaming his Starcraft II matches on livestream.com and ustream.tv,[7] then Justin.tv (now Twitch), he was immediately financially successful.[4][6][8] In October of that year, Bonnell joined professional team Quantic Gaming and placed 4th in the 2011 MLG Global North American invitational.[9] During his years as a Starcraft II streamer, Bonnell was known for his abrasive and confrontational style, including use of "acerbic and often offensive" comments against other players for shock humor.[4] Bonnell identified as a libertarian during this era, but his politics began shifting toward liberalism after an incident in which he heard another streamer call a gay person a "fucking faggot".[5][6]
Starting in 2016, Bonnell has gained attention for live-streaming political debates with other internet personalities. Subsequent journalistic and academic coverage of right-wing YouTube commentary has credited Bonnell as an early and effective opposition to it, particularly owing to his provocative, combative debate style which appeals to right-wing gaming audiences.[5][10] Bonnell himself has stated that his intention is not to persuade their opponents, but to persuade the audience; although he has expressed that airing his opinions often feels "like screaming into the void", he estimates he has received hundreds of emails from former members of the alt-right crediting him for their conversion to left-wing politics.[5][6] In 2019, Bonnell began debating in favor of capitalism against socialists and communists.[5]
Bonnell debated popular YouTuber Jon Jafari, better known as JonTron, on immigration and assimilation in March 2017, after Jafari tweeted in support of anti-immigration statements by Republican congressman Steve King. In his debate with Bonnell, Jafari's statements concerning race, crime, and immigration were seen as controversial by viewers, and the subsequent backlash garnered media attention.[11][12][13][14]
In November 2018, Bonnell and fellow streamer Trihex (Mychal Ramon Jefferson) premiered a political commentary collaboration, The DT Podcast. The podcast streamed its final episode in October 2019, during which Jefferson confronted Bonnell regarding statements the latter had made defending his use of offensive humor—including racial slurs—in private.[6][15]
Bonnell was notified in September 2020 that his Twitch partnership agreement would be terminated the following month for "encouragement of violence". The termination came as a result of comments made on-stream after the Kenosha unrest shooting, in which Bonnell expressed opposition to riots at the George Floyd protests. Bonnell said that "the rioting needs to fucking stop, and if that means like white redneck fucking militia dudes out there mowing down dipshit protesters that think that they can torch buildings at ten p.m., then at this point they have my fucking blessing..."[16][17] Bonnell later clarified this point, saying Kyle Rittenhouse was clearly misguided but that Bonnell's frustration was with rioters who Bonnell believed would scare people into voting for Donald Trump again.[18]
In March 2022, Bonnell was indefinitely banned from Twitch due to "hateful conduct".[19][20] According to Dot Esports, this may have been due to Bonnell streaming with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who had previously been banned from the platform.[19][20][21] Bonnell speculated that the ban reason may have been linked to his expressing the view that "transwomen shouldn't compete with ciswomen in women's athletics".[20]
Political views and activism
Bonnell describes himself as an "Omniliberal", a phrase he uses to describe a person who believes in the core principles of liberalism, freedom and equality, whilst believing in elements of other ideologies in a "pragmatic way".[22][non-primary source needed] Bonnell has also described himself as "a very big social democrat".[6] He has argued against both far-right politics and far-left politics.[5][6] In 2021, Bonnell debated Marxian economist Richard D. Wolff, with Bonnell defending capitalism. Bonnell described the label of "socialism" as poorly-defined, and noted a history of famine and abuses in countries like the Soviet Union and China, while Dr. Wolff responded by attempting to correct perceived misrepresentations from Bonnell of his views on socialism throughout the debate.[23] Bonnell has cited his poverty during his teenage and college-aged years as an influence on his views, and says that he prefers to argue based on empirical data rather than moral suasion.[6]
In 2020, Bonnell supported the general election campaign of Joe Biden.[24] Following Biden's victory, Bonnell led a canvassing campaign in support of Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the 2020–21 Georgia Senate runoffs.[25] With the help of approximately 140 volunteers mobilized from Bonnell's online audience, the campaign knocked on an estimated 17,500–20,000 doors in Columbus, Georgia, making it one of the larger campaigns of the election.[26]
Bonnell led another canvassing operation in support of Mark Gudgel for the 2021 Omaha mayoral election.[27] On March 3, 2021, Gudgel officially cut ties with Bonnell over the latter's statements regarding riots at the George Floyd protests.[28]
Personal life
Bonnell is of Cuban-American descent on his mother's side, and his son (via an ex-partner) lives in Nebraska.[5][6] Bonnell moved to Glendale, California, in December 2018, then to Culver City and again to Huntington Beach.[6] He currently resides in Miami, Florida.[29]
He is openly bisexual and currently in an open marriage with Swedish streamer Melina Göransson.[6][30][31] Bonnell and Göransson married in December 2021.[32]
Having studied music in college at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, he plays multiple instruments, including the keyboard, saxophone and guitar.[33]
References
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (August 23, 2019). "Twitch Suspends Popular Leftist Streamer After Controversial 9/11 Comments". kotaku. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ Roose, Kevin (June 8, 2019). "Caleb Cain was a college dropout looking for direction. He turned to YouTube". New York Times. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ Gonzalez, Oscar (June 29, 2022). "Meet the Twitch, YouTube Streamers Who Deradicalize While They Debate". CNET. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
- ^ a b c McCormick, Rich (August 26, 2014). "This is why people want to watch other people play video games". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Quirk, Trevor (January 15, 2020). "Can This Notorious Troll Turn People Away From Extremism?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Breland, Ali (April 1, 2020). "Steve Bonnell Made Big Bucks Following a Simple Plan: Play Video Games. Troll Your Fans. Fight the Online Right". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
- ^ No Jumper (September 2, 2022). The Destiny Interview: Relationships, Trans Rights, Trump, Keffals & More (Video). Event occurs at 13:40. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
- ^ "Inside the new world of 24/7 on-demand videogame TV". Edge. July 1, 2013. from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
- ^ "Steven "Destiny" Bonnell joins Quantic Gaming". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
- ^ Roose, Kevin (June 8, 2019). "The Making of a YouTube Radical (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ "Popular YouTuber JonTron Has Some Batshit Crazy Thoughts on Immigration He'd Like to Share [Update]". Gizmodo. March 13, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ Gajanan, Mahita (March 14, 2017). "YouTube Star JonTron Under Fire for Comments on Race and Immigration". Time. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
- ^ Jackson, Gita (March 17, 2017). "Longtime Fans Of YouTuber JonTron Say They Can't Watch Him Anymore". Kotaku. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ "A Brief Breakdown of the JonTron Racism Controversy". Game Rant. March 21, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ Viana, Bhernardo (October 24, 2019). "Trihex and Destiny end their podcast over use of the n-word". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
- ^ Richman, Olivia (September 12, 2020). "Destiny loses Twitch partnership for "encouraging violence" - LoL - News". WIN.gg. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ "Twitch Legal Department Unpartners Destiny After 'Encouragement of Violence'". Game Rant. September 12, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ Bonell, Steven. "Kyle Rittenhouse ("mowing down protestors")". My Position.
- ^ a b Polhamus, Blaine (March 23, 2022). "Political streamer Destiny banned from Twitch". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ a b c Litchfield, Ted (March 27, 2022). "Politics streamer Destiny receives indefinite ban from Twitch". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
- ^ Gach, Ethan (July 21, 2022). "Trans Streamer Keffals Says Twitch Banned Her For 'Openly Talking' About Abuse She Receives". Kotaku. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ "Politics | My Positions". positions.destiny.gg. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
- ^ Gault, Matthew (April 23, 2021). "Twitch Streamer Destiny and an Economist Debate Capitalism, Achieve Nothing". Vice. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
- ^ "Voting For / Against Biden - Debate w/ Kim Iversen". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
- ^ Gray, Sakura (December 21, 2020). "MATH MVMT hosts canvassing event ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs". WRBL. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- ^ Citarella, Joshua (April 24, 2021). "Are we ready for social media influencers shaping politics?". The Guardian. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
- ^ Johnson, Anton (February 17, 2021). "How one creator is using streaming service Twitch to shape an Omaha mayoral candidate's 'Destiny'". The Gateway. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
- ^ Ristau, Reece (March 13, 2021). "Omaha mayoral candidate cuts ties with internet personality over protest comments". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
- ^ "BLM Organizer Confronts Destiny On Jacob Blake And Defund The Police... - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
- ^ "Open Relationships, Intense Officer Confrontation & Dealing w/ the Police - LNOD". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ "Personal". destiny.gg. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
Melina and I are currently in an open/poly relationship. We treat each other as primary partners, though we may pursue other sexual/romantic relationships as well.
- ^ Göransson, Melina. "I am married!". Twitter. from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
- ^ Breland, Ali. "Steve Bonnell made big bucks following a simple plan: Play video games. Troll your fans. Fight the online right". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
External links
- Official website