Music

Martin Shkreli will let you punch him in the face for a good cause

by Tyler Munro

In recent months, pharmabro Martin Shkreli has proved to be more of a nervous dweeb than the diabolical badman we first billed him as. He’s been called out by rappers, absolutely humiliated in a now-viral Facebook video and been seen begging to join your New York hardcore band.

More recently, he’s done his most unthinkable thing yet: Charity work!

Even better, this charity results in him getting triumphantly punched in his pursed, punchable face.

Earlier this week, Shkreli tweeted that he was donating a punch (or slap) in the face to the highest bidder, noting that the money would go to the family of a close friend who died from cancer, leaving behind a young so who himself had survived cancer. More recently, he’s clarified: Donate to young Tyler Kulich’s trustfund, and you’ll be entered into a raffle. Win that raffle, and you can punch (or even go on a date with) Shkreli.

Really, it’s a win/win situation.

Previously, Shkreli had tweeted that he’d received bids of $25,500 and $78,000, and today he announced (seemingly) in jest that with her $50,000 donation (which he says he’ll match), Katie from Florida has earned the right to, as he puts it, “repeatedly pummel” him in the face, a special request Shkreli claims to have granted. Keen eyes show that Katie was likely trolling Shkreli and he’s calling her out on it, but regardless: Shkreli seems, for perhaps the first time ever, genuinely interested in helping out someone in need.

Currently, the campaign sits at $8,535, and again, we emphasize that this is for a good cause; not just the chance to see the man who raised the price of a lifesaving HIV drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill punched in his smug mug, but also the chance to see a little boy who’s had a pretty rough go of it be given a clearer path in life.

Kulich was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia when he was just 2, and in the three years since has finished his chemotherapy and, we hope, left the illness behind him. Unfortunately, just a few weeks before his 6th birthday, he lost his father, Mike, to cancer. Mike Kulich gained press for working as Shkreli’s publicist of late, but before that established a lengthy career as a publicist in the porn industry.

Say what you will about Martin Shkreli (and there is a lot you can say), but even we can’t find anything bad to say about this one.