Destiny (streamer)

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II (born December 12, 1988), known online as Destiny, is an American live streamer and political commentator. He was among the first people to stream video games online full-time. Since 2016, he has streamed political debates with other online personalities, in which he advocates for liberal and social democratic policies.

Early life and education

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He was raised in a conservative Catholic home, and he attended Creighton Preparatory School, a private Jesuit high school for boys. When he was a pre-teen, his mother's home daycare business collapsed, and his family's home was foreclosed. 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.

In 2007, Bonnell enrolled at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he studied music while working as a restaurant manager at a casino, mostly at night. Struggling to juggle both his education and full-time work, Bonnell dropped out of college in 2010. Within a year, he was fired from his job, which he attributes to his difficulty navigating workplace politics and understanding others' emotional experiences.

Bonnell later found work as a carpet cleaner, working 12-hour days for commission. His average pay was $34 an hour (equivalent to $ an hour in ).

Career

Gaming streaming (2011)

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, then Justin.tv (now Twitch), he was immediately financially successful. In October of that year, Bonnell joined professional team Quantic Gaming and placed 4th in the 2011 MLG Global North American invitational.
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.

Twitch debates (2016–2022)

Starting in 2016, Bonnell live-streamed political debates with other internet personalities. Bonnell debated 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.

Bonnell received a 30-day suspension from Twitch in summer 2018 for using the word faggot. 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. Fellow Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who had previously reached out to "to form an allegiance", distanced himself from Bonnell in-part because of the controversy.

Bonnell was indefinitely banned from Twitch due to "hateful conduct" in March 2022. ''Dot Esports'' speculates that this may have been due to Bonnell streaming with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who had previously been banned from the platform, while Bonnell speculated it was due to him expressing the view that "trans women shouldn't compete with cis women in women's athletics".

Post-Twitch career (2022–present)

Bonnell interviewed U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, alongside other political streamers such as Vaush, Emma Vigeland (co-host of The Majority Report), and Keffals, about various topics in September 2023, including the importance of youth political participation and ways to push progressive political sentiment, as well as asking questions about Khanna.

Beginning in early 2024, Bonnell began co-hosting the "Bridges" and "Anything Else?" podcasts.

In late 2024, members of Bonnell's Reddit and Discord communities began participating in an online campaign against Twitch, pressuring Twitch advertisers under the allegation that the website was promoting antisemitic content. Some activists of the campaign were led by Dan Saltman, an online commentator and Bonnell's podcast co-host, who has launched multiple gripe sites

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