Destiny (streamer)

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II (born December 12, 1988), better known by his online alias Destiny, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTube personality. Bonnell was among the first people to commit to full-time streaming and received some attention as a pioneer of the emerging industry.[1]

Destiny
Bonnell in June 2020
Personal information
BornSteven Bonnell II
(1988-12-12) December 12, 1988
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
ResidenceLos Angeles, California
OccupationTwitch streamer/YouTuber
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Websitedestiny.gg
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2011–present
GenreVideo gaming, political commentary
Games
Followers563,600
Total views102 million
Follower and view counts updated as of July 22, 2020.
YouTube information
GenrePolitics/Gaming
Subscribers250,000
(July 22, 2020)
Total views127 million
(June 22, 2020)
100,000 subscribers March 2018

Early life

Bonnell grew up in Omaha in a conservative Catholic home.[2] He is of Cuban descent on his mother's side.[3] He attended Creighton Preparatory School, a private, Jesuit high school in Omaha.[4] When he was in his teens his parents moved to take care of an aging relative and he lived with his grandmother until he was 18.[2] He attended the University of Nebraska, working at a local casino and dropping out in 2010.[2] He worked in restaurants and as a carpet cleaner.[5][6][2]

Career

Bonnell began his online career as a professional Starcraft 2 player who livestreamed his matches.[1][7] According to Bonnell, he first started livestreaming in January 2011 on the website Justin.tv.[6] Bonnell eventually signed with Quantic Gaming.[8] Later, Bonnell would end up 4th in the 2011 MLG Global North American invitational.[9]

Bonnell has also received coverage for his live-streamed political debates.[2] Bonnell, along with Natalie Wynn, were credited by YouTuber Caleb Cain for his turn away from the alt-right.[2] The New York Times has also identified Bonnell's political content, and particularly his combative debating style, as a force that has successfully worked against the far-right radicalization which some people experience through watching online videos.[10][11] Bonnell describes himself as a rule utilitarian[12] and a social democrat.

Throughout Bonnell's early career, he was well known for his provocative persona and common use of crass language.[1] This led to temporary suspensions from the Twitch platform for insensitive language.

A debate between Bonnell and well-known YouTuber JonTron on his racist views became popular and controversial.[13]

Personal life

Bonnell lives in Los Angeles. He has a son who lives in Nebraska.[2] Bonnell is openly bisexual.[14] He has described himself as an agnostic atheist.[15]

gollark: Then the cost there is, what, your labour directly, instead of money.
gollark: Production requires *some inputs*.
gollark: Which would be very cool.
gollark: You can't get them *literally free* until someone invents nanofabricators and an infinite supply of raw materials, or something.
gollark: You mean "paid for by someone else".

References
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Bernal, Alan (October 24, 2019). "Trihex gets angry with Destiny over use of racial slurs". Dexerto.com. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  4. 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.
  5. Destiny (May 17, 2016), My Life Before I Started Streaming, retrieved November 2, 2018
  6. Bonnell, Steve (March 17, 2013). "My Journey In Streaming". Destiny. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  7. "Inside the new world of 24/7 on-demand videogame TV". Edge. July 1, 2013. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  8. "Steven "Destiny" Bonnell joins Quantic Gaming". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  9. "2011 MLG Global Invitational - Liquipedia - the StarCraft II Encyclopedia". Archived from the original on June 28, 2020.
  10. "Three: Mirror Image". The New York Times. April 30, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  11. Roose, Kevin (June 8, 2019). "The making of a youtube radical". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  12. "Destiny. Advocating for political violence - Destiny debates I, Hypocrite". May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  13. 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.
  14. Peterson, Jesse Lee. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmzuPl2FY1s. Retrieved August 11, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z74YezkVMIs
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