Posted inGlobal, News

MrBeast’s trust Dilemma 2023

In the aftermath of charitable efforts, MrBeast grapples with allegations of exploiting altruism for personal gain, raising questions about authenticity and ethical intent.

by Ishika Nanda
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The Drama in Africa

MrBeast, actual name Jimmy Donaldson, is experiencing blowback just a week after he was at odds with Rosanna Pansino.

It all began last week, when MrBeast released a video titled “I Built 100 Wells In Africa” to his over 207 million subscribers. As the title suggests, the video follows MrBeast and his team as they assist in the construction of wells and the provision of safe water to communities in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, and Cameroon.

In the video, Mr. Beast was also seen purchasing new electronic gadgets such as computers for students, bikes for children, and even “powered a village.”

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Helping blind people see = Fans seeing his intentions

While many viewers appreciate MrBeast for “making a difference,” online users have regularly expressed reservations about his humanitarian programming. Earlier this year, for example, he posted a contentious video in which he claimed to “cure” 1,000 people of blindness.

In true MrBeast manner, he paid for procedures to assist blind individuals all across the world. Hundreds of people came from Namibia, Mexico, Honduras, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Kenya, and Jamaica, where the operation is not available.

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Many viewers began responding to these efforts negatively. These users noted that his altruism is both publicized and monetized— often making millions of dollars in profit for his philanthropy. 

MrBeast responds to allegations

Having faced backlash for this type of content in the past, MrBeast defended himself on X soon after uploading his new video. 

“I already know I’m gonna get canceled because I uploaded a video helping people, and to be 100% clear, I don’t care,” he writes. “I’m always going to use my channel to help people and try to inspire my audience to do the same.”

MrBeast believes he will be “cancelled” for “helping people,” but internet users believe he has entirely missed the point.

Audience Attack

Viewers don’t mind MrBeast utilizing his resources to aid others in need. Instead, they criticize his decision to make himself the focal point of these videos, perpetuating a “white saviour” narrative.

“No one is “cancelling” you for “helping people,” Taylor Lorenz says. “You’ve received fairly minor criticism in the past for the manner you’ve monetized “kindness” content that some vulnerable individuals considered exploitative.” “Inspiring people to help others is great, but encouraging young ppl to exploit vulnerable communities for content which they can then profit off of enormously is the issue.”

A similar allegation was made by Ryan Broderick of the Garbage Day Substack.

Broderick describes MrBeast as “unnaturally viral,” noting that the YouTuber’s rise occurred only after he switched from generating gameplay videos to stunt-based content. Given this, many internet users regard his charity endeavors videos as a relatively transparent attempt to remain relevant.

“At this point, we all know that making purely viral content and chasing audience-agnostic mass appeal, as MrBeast does, requires, in some sense, being a complete sociopath with no concept of what it means to artistically or creatively express something,” Broderick writes in his essay. “If he was truly interested in philanthropy, for example, why not just do it and never film it?” That’s because generosity is simply another form of viral content.”

So the question is: will MrBeast be able to fix his reputation, or is it too late?

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