Win a punch to this guy’s face
Shkreli auction looks to help child of friend,
Ever wanted to punch Martin Shkreli in the face? You soon may get your chance and help a young child, too.
The infamous “pharma bro” likely has a long list of those who would like to hit him. Shkreli, the former Turing Pharmaceutical CEO, gained the ire of many last year after raising the price of a life-saving drug used by cancer and AIDS patients by more than 5,000% to $750 per pill. It had previously cost just $13.50. Last month, he defended Mylan’s raising of the price for the EpiPen.
After friend and PR manager Mike Kulich, 29, died Saturday, according to Shkreli, he wants to give people a chance to hit him in hopes of raising money for Kulich’s soon-to-be 6-year-old son, Tyler.
“I will auction one slap/punch in the face to benefit my friend Mike who passed away & leaves behind a young son who survived cancer,” the pharmacy exec posted to Twitter on Monday.
According to the GiveForward donation page, Tyler had been waging his own battle with cancer since being diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 2. Tyler finished his chemotherapy in August, only to lose his father a month later.
Money raised from the fund will go into a trust fund for Tyler, the posting says. As of late Tuesday afternoon, the page had raised more than $5,500, with a goal of raising $15,000.
Shkreli, for his part, has agreed to match donations “to a certain point,” and the winner will be allowed to record the slap or punch on video. Winners can also choose to nominate someone else — say, Mike Tyson, as one Twitter user recommended — to do the punching for them. So long as the money is paid and the other person is willing to throw the punch, Shkreli tweeted he would allow it.
In a subsequent tweet, Shkreli said the highest bid for punching him in the face was $78,000. Those interested in placing a bid should use Twitter’s direct message function to privately message their offer.
Shkreli did not immediately respond to a Twitter direct message seeking information on when the deadline is to submit bids or the highest amount that he’d be willing to match.
“Mike architected my publicity stunts,” Shkreli tweeted. “I bet he is watching, smiling.”