Comedian Richard Herring has continued his annual tradition of reminding Twitter of the date of International Men’s Day while raising money for charity.
International Men’s Day, a global event that was relaunched more than two decades ago, is celebrated on 19 November.
The aim of the day is to raise awareness of issues that many men face around the world, including physical and mental health issues.
Every March, Herring makes it his mission on International Women’s Day to respond to the spate of tweets that appear from naysayers asking why there isn’t an International Men’s Day, informing them that the observance does in fact exist.
Eight months later, he is doing the same on International Men’s Day and using the attention his tweets receive to raise money for charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).
“It’s November 19th and I don’t know if you know it, but that’s International Men’s Day,” Herring states on his JustGiving fundraising page , which has a target of raising £10,000.
“You seemed to be really bothered about it on March 8th, so don’t forget about that now and make a donation to the Campaign Against Living Miserably and help prevent male suicides.”
Throughout the morning the comedian has tweeted numerous responses to Twitter users who wrote in March about their lack of knowledge about International Men’s Day.
One person tweeted: “When’s International Men’s Day then?! Of course there isn’t one. So much for equality!!”, to which Herring replied : “Today is the day that you thought didn’t exist.”
In response to someone else who asked if there is an International Men’s Day, Herring wrote : “It’s genuinely today. What are you going to be doing?"
He continued, stating: “Would you say the problem is that men are only interested in IMD when they think there isn’t one, but don’t want to do anything when it comes around? Genuine question.”
In a subsequent tweet, Herring revealed that today’s responses reminding Twitter users of the existence of International Men’s Day were all scheduled in March.
16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental healthShow all 16 1 /1616 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Will Young Singer Will Young has spoken about his experience with suicidal thoughts. "There's a part of my brain that is telling me that you're about to die, [so] you either shut down, freeze or you run. The only thing I can do is go to bed." He said that without the help of his therapist he probably would have been successful in his suicide attempts. “I have so many mental thoughts in my head: ‘You’re never going to sing again’. ‘That was a s*** dance move.’ ‘They’re hating you.’”
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Donald Glover American actor, comedian, writer and musician Donald Glover, who performs under the name Childish Gambino told Vice in 2013 he'd been through periods of depression following the end of his tour. "I was just super depressed. I mean, I tried to kill myself. I was really fucked up after that [tour], because I had this girl that I thought I was going to marry and we broke up. I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing. I wasn’t living up to my standard, I was living up to other people’s standards, and I just said ‘I don’t see the point'.”
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Jim Carrey Comedian and actor Jim Carrey told iNews that he had struggled with depression throughout his life. “At this point, I don’t have depression. I had that for years, but now, when the rain comes, it rains, but it doesn’t stay. It doesn’t stay long enough to immerse me and drown me anymore.”
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Pete Wentz Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz has spoken openly about his bipolar disorder diagnosis and other mental health problems. He said that it took him to reach breaking point before asking for help. "My best piece of advice, more than anything, is that there's other people out there that feel [suicidal], or are feeling that right at that time," he said. "Maybe your favorite actor, or a guy in a band, or whoever, there are people who feel that exact same thing and have made it through that. I would say more than anything, you're not alone in it."
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Jon Hamm "I struggled with chronic depression," Mad Men star Jon Hamm told The Guardian in 2010. "I did do therapy and antidepressants for a brief period, which helped me." Hamm said medication helped change his "brain chemistry" enough so he could get out of bed. "I don't want to sleep until four in the afternoon. I want to get up and go do my shit and go to work," he says.
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Rob Delaney Catastrophe actor and comedian Rob Delaney, who lost his son Henry to brain cancer in January 2018, said he has long struggled with depression and encouraged others in the same position to seek help. "Asking for help is strong because it leads directly to staying alive," he says. "Not asking for help is as fear-based a decision as a human being can make and can lead you swiftly in a bad direction. It's not exaggerating to say that path can end in death."
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Dwayne Johnson has spoken on numerous occasions about mental health. On ITV's Lorraine Kelly he said: "Depression doesn't discriminate, and I thought that was an important part of the narrative if I was going to share a little bit of my story of the past. Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living or where you come from, it doesn't discriminate, we all kind of go through it. If I could share a little bit of it and if I could help somebody, I'm happy to do it."
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Ryan Reynolds "I have anxiety, I've always had anxiety," the Deadpool actor told the New York Times in 2018. "Both in the lighthearted ‘I’m anxious about this’ kind of thing, and I’ve been to the depths of the darker end of the spectrum, which is not fun.” Reynolds said he went through a period of partying to try and make himself "vanish" in some way and would frequently suffer with anxiety-related insomnia.
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Bruce Springsteen Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen told Esquire magazine in 2018 that although he wouldn't describe himself as being mentally unwell, he has "come close enough" and takes medication to cope. "I’m on a variety of medications that keep me on an even keel; otherwise I can swing rather dramatically and the wheels can come off a little bit.”
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16 male celebrities who have spoken about mental health Prince Harry Prince Harry has been a vocal supporter of mental health campaigns like 'Time To Talk'. He also has spoken openly about his own problems following the death of his mother, Princess Diana. He told The Telegraph : “I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle." Harry said there was "huge merit" in talking about your issues and keeping quiet only makes things worse.
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Several people praised the comedian for raising awareness of the awareness day.
“You absolute genius, sir. Kudos on the best use of Twitter since at least 8th March,” one person commented .
“Brilliant work Richard, laughing harder today than I did in March!” another remarked .
To read more about International Men’s Day, click here .
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