Harry Brewis (born 19 September 1992), better known as Hbomberguy, is a British

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

and

Twitch streamer An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could uplo ...

. Brewis produces

video essay A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube. A video essay al ...

s on a variety of topics such as film, television, and video games; often combining them with arguments from

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political and economic positions. He has created videos aimed at debunking

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

and responding to

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

and

antifeminist Antifeminism or anti-feminism is opposition to feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as women's suffrage, the right to vote, Female education, educat ...

arguments.

Early life

Harry Brewis was born on 19 September 1992 in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. He studied English literature with a focus on creative writing at

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

. Before focusing on his own YouTube channel full time, Brewis worked as an

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

engineer, then as an animator for

The School of Life ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

's YouTube channel.

Content

Brewis started the Hbomberguy YouTube channel on 28 May 2006. As of June 2025, the channel has over 1.8 million subscribers. He also uploads his videos on the online streaming service

Nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

. Brewis' videos often take the format of mini-documentaries, with him talking directly to the camera on a particular topic interspersed with comedic sketches and gags. He consults with experts and fact-checkers for his videos to ensure their factual accuracy. Some of the most popular videos on his channel are his ''A Measured Response'' series, which features Brewis critiquing figures such as flat Earth conspiracy theorists,

pickup artist Pickup artists (PUA) are people whose goals are seduction and sexual success. Predominantly heterosexual men, they often self-identify as the seduction community or the pickup community. This community exists through various channels, including ...

s, anti-vaxxers, and content creators who believe soy makes men feminine and use the term '' soy boy''. Due to his videos debunking right-wing and

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

ideas, Brewis has commonly been described as a part of

BreadTube BreadTube or LeftTube is a loose and informal group of online personalities who create video content, including video essays and livestreams, from socialist, social democratic, communist, anarchist, and other left-wing perspectives. BreadTube cre ...

, an informal network of left-leaning YouTubers; however, he does not associate himself with the term. Like other YouTube channels under the BreadTube label, Brewis' political content mirrors the presentation of popular non-political content creators such as pop-culture essayists and gaming YouTubers. Along with his political analysis and ''Measured Response'' series, Brewis has been producing long-form media reviews and video essays on a number of topics, such as television, film,

internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

and video games. In July 2020, Brewis released a video criticising the American web series ''

RWBY ''RWBY'' (pronounced "Ruby") is an American Anime-influenced animation, animated web series created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth. It is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become warriors ("Huntsmen" and "Huntres ...

''. Prior to its release, Brewis attempted to upload the video and found it automatically blocked by YouTube's

Content ID Content ID is a digital fingerprinting system developed by Google which is used to easily identify and manage copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by co ...

system. Brewis opted to extensively re-edit the video to circumvent this automated detection and hire a lawyer to review the content in order to ensure it complied with

fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...

prior to publication. In an essay criticising the Content ID system, the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

highlighted Brewis' difficulty as an example of how they believed Content ID "undermines" the intent of fair use. In November 2022, Brewis published "ROBLOX_OOF.mp3", a video essay which documented many of the high-profile claims that

Tommy Tallarico Tommy Tallarico (born 1967 or 1968) is an American video game music composer, sound designer, and television producer. Since the 1990s, his company Tommy Tallarico Studios has produced audio for many video games. He co-hosted the television ser ...

had made concerning his career, including being the creator of the sound effect at the heart of his ''

Roblox Roblox (, ) is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users. It was created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 200 ...

'' legal dispute, his

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

, and being the first American to work on the ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'' franchise, and concluded many were either exaggerations or knowingly false.

Mermaids charity stream

From 18 to 21 January 2019, Brewis continually livestreamed to raise money for British

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

charity organisation

Mermaids In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

. In this stream, he aimed to complete ''

Donkey Kong 64 ''Donkey Kong 64'' is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first ''Donkey Kong'' game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, the p ...

'' while finding all possible collectable items and did so in 57 hours and 48 minutes. Mermaids had been designated funding by the British National Lottery, but the funding was withheld and put under review after criticism by comedy writer and anti-transgender activist

Graham Linehan Graham George Linehan (; born May 1968) is an Irish comedy writer and anti-transgender activist. He created or co-created the sitcoms ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), '' Black Books'' (2000–2004), and ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), and has wri ...

and others. This inspired Brewis to stream in support of the charity. The livestream featured many notable guests, including U.S. Representative

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

; activist and whistleblower

Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...

; actress

Mara Wilson Mara Elizabeth Wilson (born July 24, 1987) is an American actress. As a child, she played Natalie Hillard in the film ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993) and went on to play Susan Walker in ''Miracle on 34th Street (1994 film), Miracle on 34th Street'' (19 ...

; journalists

Paris Lees Paris Lees is an English author, journalist, presenter and campaigner. She topped ''The Independent on Sunday''s 2013 Pink List, came second in the 2014 Rainbow List, and was awarded the Positive Role Model Award for LGBT in the 2012 National ...

and

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a left-wing British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'', ''Tribune (magazine), Tribune ...

; ''

Adam Ruins Everything ''Adam Ruins Everything'' is an American educational comedy television series starring Adam Conover that ran from 2015 through 2019 on TruTV. The series endeavors to debunk common misconceptions held by the public on a variety of topics. Premis ...

'' creator

Adam Conover Adam Conover (born ) is an American actor, writer and comedian. He created and Television presenter, hosted the half-hour truTV show ''Adam Ruins Everything'', based on the CollegeHumor series of the same name. He was also the host of the Amer ...

; author Chuck Tingle; Matt Christman and Virgil Texas of the ''

Chapo Trap House ''Chapo Trap House'' (also referred to as ''Chapo'') is an American socialist political comedy podcast launched in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Felix Biederman, Matt Christman, and Amber A'Lee Frost. It is produced by Chris Wade. The ...

'' podcast; ''Donkey Kong 64'' composer

Grant Kirkhope Grant Kirkhope (born 10 July 1962) is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film. Some of his notable works include '' GoldenEye 007'', '' Banjo-Kazooie'', '' Donkey Kong 64'', and '' Perfect Dark'', among many others. He has w ...

; NFL athlete

Chris Kluwe Christopher James Kluwe ( ; born December 24, 1981) is an American writer, social activist and former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins before si ...

; game designers

Rebecca Heineman Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game designer and programmer. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been chief executive officer f ...

Josh Sawyer Joshua Eric Sawyer (born October 18, 1975), more commonly known and credited as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games. Early life and education Sawyer grew up in ...

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

and Scott Benson; YouTubers Natalie Wynn, Lindsay Ellis,

Abigail Thorn Abigail Thorn (born 24April 1993) is an English YouTuber, actress, and Playwrighting, playwright. Thorn created the YouTube channel Philosophy Tube in 2013, when she sought to provide free lessons in philosophy in the wake of the 2012 increa ...

and

James Stephanie Sterling James Stephanie Sterling, also known as Commander Sterling and formerly known as Jim Sterling, is a British freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit, YouTuber, and professional wrestler. Before becoming independent in September 2014, s ...

; as well as the then CEO of Mermaids, Susie Green.

Colin Mochrie Colin Andrew Mochrie (; born November 30, 1957) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor, writer, producer and improvisational comedian, best known for his appearances on the British and American versions of the improvisational TV show ''Whose Line ...

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

Matthew Mercer Matthew Christopher Miller, known professionally as Matthew Mercer or Matt Mercer, is an American voice actor, game designer and gamemaster. He has been an active voice-over artist in video games and animation since 2002. Notable animation cre ...

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and manufacturer, fabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, with Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channe ...

Hidetaka Suehiro , known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game director and writer. He was one of the founding members of the game development studio Access Games which is based in Osaka. His roles in the company included director, designer, and writer. ...

and

SonicFox Dominique McLean (born March 2, 1998), known professionally as SonicFox, is an American professional esports player of several fighting games. They have topped many tournaments, including seven Evolution Championship Series (EVO) events for five ...

tweeted in support of the livestream and the charity. The livestream began with a goal of ; it quickly passed that goal and several subsequent funding targets. In the first 24 hours, the livestream raised over $100,000. In total, over $347,000 () was raised for the charity through the livestream, with over 659,000 people watching the stream. The livestream garnered attention and praise. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it "an antidote to the worst of gaming culture", and it was praised in a motion lodged in the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

co-convenor

Patrick Harvie Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and i ...

. In July 2019, the LGBT magazine ''

Attitude Attitude or Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), a disposition or state of mind ** Attitude change * Propositional attitude, a mental state held towards a proposition Science and technology * Orientation ...

'' recognised the livestream by honoring Brewis with an Attitude Pride Award. Mermaids thanked Brewis for the livestream on their Twitter account.

"Plagiarism and You(Tube)"

On 2 December 2023, Brewis uploaded a nearly four-hour video essay titled "Plagiarism and You(Tube)", in which he discussed

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

and presented accusations and evidence of plagiarism against YouTubers Filip Miucin, Cinemassacre, iilluminaughtii, Internet Historian, and James Somerton. The second half of the video focuses exclusively on Somerton, whom Brewis accuses of expansive plagiarism, as well as appropriating content from various other queer writers and

content creators Content creation or content creative is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to '' Dictionary.com'', content refers to "something that is to be expresse ...

. '' The Celluloid Closet'', a 1996 film based on the book of the same name by

Vito Russo Vito Russo (; July 11, 1946 – November 7, 1990) was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book '' The Celluloid Closet'' (1981, revised edition 1987), described in ''The New York Ti ...

, and ''Tinker Belles and Evil Queens'', a 2000 book by

Sean Griffin Sean Griffin is a critical queer film theory scholar and professor at the Meadows School of the Arts. His work includes ''Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out'', which was adapted from his dissertation. ''Ti ...

, were among the works Somerton was accused of plagiarizing, in part or in whole, across at least 26 of his videos. In addition to the plagiarism accusations, another YouTuber,

Todd in the Shadows Channel Awesome, Inc. is an American online media production company based in Lombard, Illinois. The company was created in 2008 by Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis, and Bhargav Dronamraju. Channel Awesome operated the ''That Guy with the Glasses'' we ...

, released a separate video soon after Brewis's where he accused Somerton of regularly lying and spreading

misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...

and dubious claims in his videos. In response, Somerton removed all of his videos from public view and deactivated his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

accounts. He removed the website for his film studio, Telos, which was scrutinised by Brewis for raising funds without producing any films. Somerton released an apology video, which was widely criticised. In his video, Somerton said he would continue his career, and he re-opened his

account without notifying his patrons. This raised concerns about individuals being charged without their knowledge. Somerton removed the apology video a few hours after it was uploaded and closed his Patreon a second time.

Reception

Brewis has been praised by critics for his YouTube channel's format and commentary. His 2017 video on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

, which was produced in collaboration with Shannon Strucci, was praised by ''TenEighty Magazine'' as an excellent "deep-dive" in the topic. His video analysis of the ''

Ctrl+Alt+Del Control-Alt-Delete (often abbreviated to Ctrl+Alt+Del and sometimes called the "three-finger salute" or "Security Keys") is a computer keyboard command on IBM PC compatible computers, invoked by pressing the Delete key while holding the Control ...

'' comic "

Loss Loss may refer to: *Economic loss *Grief, an emotional response to loss **Animal loss, grief over the loss of an animal Mathematics, science, and technology * Angular misalignment loss, power loss caused by the deviation from optimum angular al ...

" has received critical acclaim: it was selected by ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' as one of the ten best video essays of 2018 and was nominated three times in the ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'' collection of 2018's most outstanding videographic criticism, with British film critic and filmmaker

Charlie Shackleton Charlie Shackleton (formerly Charlie Lyne; born 15 August 1991) is a British filmmaker, multimedia artist, and film critic. He has made several films, including ''Beyond Clueless,'' ''Fear Itself (film), Fear Itself'', and the 2023 protest film ...

stating: "The reliably great H. Bomberguy pushed the YouTube video essay into new territory with this

Matryoshka doll Matryoshka dolls (), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The name ''Matryoshka'' is a diminutive form of ''Matryosha'' (), i ...

of an upload: a layered critique of the gaming webcomic ''Ctrl+Alt+Del'',

Tommy Wiseau Thomas Pierre Wiseau (born October 3, 1955) ( or ; born Tomasz Wieczorkiewicz ) is a Polish Americans, Polish-American actor and filmmaker. He is best-known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film ''The Room'', which ...

's bad-taste classic ''

The Room ''The Room'' is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a ...

'' and the YouTube video essay itself. To cap it all off, it's a horror movie". Brewis' ''Climate Denial: A Measured Response'' was nominated for ''Sight & Sound'''s 2019 list of the best video essays of the year with Shannon Strucci saying: "this is the hardest I have ever laughed at any video essay ... and the humor and energy Harris brings to his work without sacrificing sincerity or depth of research is, as far as I am concerned, unparalleled".

Personal life

Brewis was born and raised in West Yorkshire. Brewis is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and supported

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

in the

2017 United Kingdom general election The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the 2015 United Kingdom general election, previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 United Kingdom general election, 1992 to be held ...

. Before focusing on YouTube full time, Brewis worked as an IT engineer, then as an animator for

's YouTube channel.

Notes

References

External links

* *, Secondary channel for livestreams and follow-up videos
Hbomberguy's Twitch
on Twitch.tv *{{IMDb name, 10881586 Living people 1992 births Alumni of Aberystwyth University Bisexual feminists British Twitch (service) streamers British anti-fascists British atheists British bisexual men English-language YouTube channels British LGBTQ rights activists British political commentators Labour Party (UK) people LGBTQ people from Yorkshire LGBTQ YouTubers British male feminists British feminists YouTubers from Yorkshire Transgender rights activists Video essayists YouTube critics and reviewers 21st-century English LGBTQ people Nebula content creators People from West Yorkshire 21st-century English people British socialists