'When is International Men's Day?' Comedian Richard Herring raises £130k by replying to every person asking this question

Mr Herring said he wanted to tackle gender inequality
Getty
Alexandra Richards9 March 2018

A British comedian has raised more than £130,000 for a domestic abuse charity by replying to every person who asked when International Men’s Day was on Twitter.

Richard Herring, who carried out the stunt on International Women's Day on Thursday, thanked the public for their overwhelming support on Friday describing the response as “insane”.

The comedian had initially set a target of £10,000 but by 1pm on Friday, he had managed to raise £131,545, ten times the initial amount he outlined.

He raised the huge sum by asking people to sponsor him to reply to people on twitter who bemoaned the fact that "there wasn’t a day to celebrate men".

He vowed to reply to every person by informing them that there international men's day was on November 19.

The comedian wrote on his Just Giving Page that he would be responding to people all day in a bid to tackle inequality and raise money for Refuge, a charity which tackles violence against women.

He said: “For a few years now I have gone on Twitter to search for people asking, "When's International Men's Day?" to let them know that that (it) is on November 19.

“I do this so that everyone else can get on with celebrating International Women's Day and using it to raise awareness of the issues that affect women. And trying to achieve equality.”

Throughout the day Mr Herring shot down sceptics who asked about International Men’s day.

He told one person: “I don’t think they change the date. It would be confusing. Hopefully they will stick to November 19th or I am going to look quite the Charlie.”

He informed another: “It’s November 19th. The weird thing about equality is if women achieve it then men also achieve it. So don’t fight against today if equality is really your aim.”

Tate lights up magenta for International Women's Day

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Many people voiced their support for Mr Herring online.

Fi Hawthorn wrote: “This is amazing! What a boost for a fantastic charity doing some awesome work. A mahoosive well done.”

Another person said: “You did a lovely thing today, sleep well.”

The charity Refuge wrote: “@Herring1967's fundraising total is up to £130,000. It's unbelievable, we're blown away!

“Thank you so much to everyone for your generous donations and of course to Richard for your ultra marathon of tweets.”

The Standard has contacted Refuge for further comment.

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