The comment section of pretty much anything on the internet tends to be a horrible place festering with strangers lodging insults at each other. Obviously, there are many exceptional and intelligent comment sections where people genuinely engage in discourse and even encouragement, but many turn combative, which is why it’s so brilliant that Seriously.TV is donating money for every homophobic comment posted on their recent video featuring a rotating lineup of attractive gay men kissing (I’m fully here for this).
The video itself is already a refreshing display of affection amidst the depressing and heartbreaking news circulating the Orlando shooting, so the additional knowledge that each homophobic or trolling comment is met with a $1 donation (provided by Seriously.TV) that benefits the families and victims of the terrorist attack makes the video even better.
Luckily, since there are many people who support the video and don’t want to post actual homophobic comments (but still want donations to be made), there’s a slew of comments posted with hearts or emojis that say “homophobic comment” or “Ewwwww (I love it)” which is genuinely delightful to skim through. It’s almost as if the video’s explicit acceptance — hell, even provocation — of homophobic comments eliminated many of the genuinely homophobic people from spewing their hate.
Source: The Frisky
The outpouring of love and support, much of which is thinly veiled as homophobia for the purpose of donations, really does pose the questions of whether homophobes didn’t make it through the video, or felt less inclined to post their hate given the knowledge that it would be welcomed and matched with monetary donations. Of course, sadly there are still the genuinely bigoted commenters.
Honestly though, it’s hard to imagine not loving this video, because kissing is wonderful, and low-key this is very sexy to watch. If anything, I would imagine people would be bothered by how much they enjoy watching men smooch and the confusion that in itself launches.
The organization OneOrlandoFund is receiving the donations, and given the fact that the video has fully gone viral, I imagine the dollar amount of donations is in the thousands, which is beyond wonderful.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSrslyTV/videos/911822482274479/
Re-watching the video and attempting to estimate the dollar amount of donations invariably led me down a rabbit hole that posited the question: if every homophobic comment on the internet at large was met with a $1 donation to the victims of Orlando, how many millions and billions of dollars would they have? In most circumstances, that’s a depressing thought, but in the context of this viral video, it’s been transfigured back into hope.
Original by Bronwyn Isaac
