Destiny (streamer)

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 12, 1988, to a Cuban-American mother and American father.[3] He 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, 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.[3][4]

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.[2][4][5] In October of that year, Bonnell joined professional team Quantic Gaming and placed 4th in the 2011 MLG Global North American invitational.[6] 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.[2] 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. 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][7][8][9][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.[3][4] In 2019, Bonnell began debating in favor of capitalism against socialists and communists.[3]

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.[4][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 his frustration was with rioters who Bonnell believed would scare people into voting in Donald Trump again.[18]

On April 29, 2021, Bonnell was temporarily banned from Twitch after a guest showed a sexually explicit picture of Hunter Biden and two women on stream.[19]

In November 2021, Bonnell received criticism for promoting non-fungible tokens on a sponsored stream days after stating “Every single person on the internet that is pushing NFTs is just trying to find a bigger sucker. That’s it. That’s all it is. Every one of them. Basically scammers.”[20] He clarified that "pushing NFTs" refers to dishonestly flipping NFTs to others asserting that it will grow in value, which is entirely different than selling an NFT with no claim to its future worth.[21]

In March 2022, Bonnell was indefinitely banned from Twitch for "Promoting, encouraging, or facilitating the discrimination or denigration of a group of people based on their protected characteristics."[22][23]

Bonnell has variously described himself as "a very big social democrat",[4] a "hardcore capitalist" and "classical liberal",[24] a "rule utilitarian",[25] and an "agnostic atheist".[26] He has argued against far-right politics,[3][4] and socialism and communism.[27] He 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.[4]

In 2020, Bonnell supported the general election campaign of Joe Biden.[28] 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.[29] 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.[30]

Bonnell led another canvassing operation in support of Mark Gudgel for the 2021 Omaha mayoral election.[31] On March 3, 2021, Gudgel officially cut ties with Bonnell over the latter's statements regarding riots at the George Floyd protests. In a statement addressing the change, Gudgel said that "Bonnell’s incitement of violence runs contrary to everything I believe and have dedicated my career to as a public servant and educator over the past 17 years."[32].

Bonnell is of Cuban-American descent on his mother's side, and his son (via an ex-partner) lives in Nebraska.[3][4] Bonnell moved to Glendale, California in December 2018, then to Culver City and again to Huntington Beach.[4] He currently resides in Miami, Florida.[33]

He is currently in an open marriage with Swedish streamer Melina Göransson.[4][34][35] Bonnell and Göransson married in December 2021.[36]

Having studied music in college at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, he plays multiple instruments including the keyboard, and guitar.[37]

• Official website
• {{Twitch}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.