An Open Letter To Dan Bilzerian: The Line Has Been Crossed

Dan Bilzerian, the wildly successful poker champion slash trust fund magnate, quickly found himself to be one of the most famous people on Instagram and other popular social media websites. Dan essentially documents every absurdly crazy moment of his life in photos and videos.

It only takes a quick Google search to find a video interview of Dan discussing the time that he had two heart attacks in a single day…before his 30th birthday. The story he tells is nothing short of a Hollywood movie script, and an actual film based on his life someday probably wouldn’t surprise anyone.

Dan completed some Navy SEAL training and has an obvious affinity for big, big guns. Tanks too. And fast cars. You’ll find photos of girls in bikinis shooting guns off in the desert, him shooting guns off in the desert, and sometimes just girls in bikinis. Sometimes, all of the above. Sometimes, minus the bikinis.

As a red-blooded American male, I would be lying if I said there were times I did not envy Dan’s lifestyle. He is [literally] swimming in money, he lives in an immense Las Vegas penthouse, and he is surrounded by beautiful women. There was a time in my life when I probably would have idolized him.

But, the more times Dan finds himself into the mainstream news, the more it is for doing something stupid, and even violent towards women. Back in April of 2014 Dan was sued by a porn star for $85,000 because he literally threw her off of the roof of his home into a pool, where she broke her foot and couldn’t work while she was recovering.

While one could really stretch the story of that incident and say they did it for a photo or a video or something and she was on board with it – Dan was just this past weekend banned from LIV, one of Miami’s most popular night clubs, for kicking a girl in the face. With his boot. In the face…

Part of Dan’s story is that he was defending one of the other women he was there with as a brawl had broken out, but the video of the incident doesn’t really tell the same story. It looks as though Dan is pulling another girl up on stage with him, turns, and throws a swift kick in the other direction. Obviously as we now know, it was aimed, and landed.

We get it, Dan. Millions of men idolize you because of the life you lead and the freedom that you have to do what you want with it. And for idolizing becoming financially independent: I can’t blame them.

But we are entering Ray Rice territory now. Floyd Mayweather territory. That is, to say, I don’t care how talented, popular, enviable, or rich anyone is – when light is shed on abuse of women, that’s where I get off the train.

We are not amused, Dan Bilzerian. There is a big difference between living your life without caring about what people think of it, and living your life without caring about people.

Your 5.6 million Instagram followers will, I’m sure, still continue to grow. The visually perfect women will continue to knock down your door to party with you. The men will continue to want to be like you and follow in your path – but for this reason, Dan, you have a responsibility.

Whether you like it or not, a public figure of your stature has the ability to shape the men of our generations. He has the ability to lead by example and to live a life worth replicating. To live a life worth idolizing.

Keep your guns, man, I don’t care. Please keep your cars. Keep your pet goat. Hell, keep your porn stars for all I care. But, I implore you, keep it in perspective that you are setting an example for men.

Maybe you just wanted to start your Instagram account to take pictures of cool stuff in your life, but sometimes things grow out of proportion and responsibility comes along with them. Responsibility that you have now taken on, Dan, whether you like it or not.

There are plenty of celebrity millionaires out there who live extravagant lifestyles and are still decent human beings. They make their impact in the world and they do it in a positive way.

The question is, Dan – are you going to use your powers for good, or for evil?

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