Destiny (streamer)

Bonnell was raised in a conservative Catholic home in Omaha, Nebraska, where he attended Creighton Preparatory School—a private, Jesuit high school for boys.[4] When he was a pre-teen, his mother's home day care business collapsed, and his family's home was foreclosed.[4] 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.[3]

In 2007, Bonnell enrolled at the University of Nebraska, 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 worked as a carpet cleaner.[3][5][6]

In 2011, Bonnell quit his job as a carpet cleaner to stream video games full-time. Streaming his Starcraft II matches on Justin.tv (which later merged with Twitch), he was immediately financially successful.[1][4][7] In October of that year, Bonnell joined professional team Quantic Gaming and placed 4th in the 2011 MLG Global North American invitational.[2][8][9]

During his years as a Starcraft II streamer, Bonnell was known for his abrasive and confrontational style, including use of threats and pejoratives against other players for shock humor.[1] 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."[3][4]

Starting in 2016, Bonnell has gained attention for live-streaming political debates with other internet personalities, most notably against right-wing political commentators such as Carl Benjamin,[10][11][12][13] Lauren Southern,[14] and Count Dankula.[15] 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.[3][4][16][17][18] Bonnell, himself, has stated that his intention is not to persuade his 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.[3][4] In 2019, Bonnell began debating in favor of capitalism against socialists and communists.[3]

Bonnell debated popular YouTuber JonTron (real name: Jon Jafari) 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.[19][20][21][22]

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, expressing 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....”[23][24][25] As of December 2020, Bonnell streams simultaneously on Twitch and YouTube.

Bonnell has variously described himself as "a very big social democrat,"[4] a "hardcore capitalist" and "classical liberal,"[26] and a rule utilitarian.[27] He has debated in favor of free trade,[28][29] immigration,[14] gun control,[30] universal healthcare,[31][32] transgender rights,[12][33][34] and against homophobia,[35][36] white nationalism and fascism,[37][38][39] and socialism and communism.[40][41][42][43] He has cited his poverty during his teenage and college-aged years as an influence on his views, and prefers to argue based on empirical data rather than moral suasion.[4]

In 2020, Bonnell supported the general election campaign of Joe Biden.[44] Following Biden's victory, Bonnell led a canvassing operation with his viewers in support of Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs.[45][46]

Bonnell moved to Glendale, California, in December 2018, where he currently resides.[4] He is bisexual, and currently in an open relationship with Swedish streamer, Melina Goransson.[4][47] He is of Cuban-American descent on his mother's side, and his son (via an ex-partner) lives in Nebraska.[3][4][48] He plays the keyboard, guitar and saxophone, having studied music in college. He has described himself as an agnostic atheist.[49]

Bonnell has stated in the past that “empathy isn’t something that comes naturally to me,” and that “it’s very hard for me to understand other people’s emotional experiences.”[3]

• Destiny's channel on Twitch
• Destiny's channel on YouTube
• Official Website