Known for his extravagant gifts and philanthropy, YouTuber Mr. Beast performed 1,000 surgeries to cure “curable blindness” in his latest video. While many viewers praised him, the stunt caused mixed reactions on his social media.
Some critics questioned whether Mr Beast’s act of kindness was merely for the sake of views. Some wondered why it was so inaccessible.
Mr Beast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In his video posted Sunday, Donaldson said many people with cataracts could be “cured” with a 10-minute procedure. Cataracts, which can obscure vision by clouding a person’s eye lens, are one of the leading causes of visual impairment and blindness. world health organization.
By replacing the cloudy natural lens with a clear artificial lens, Beast said, “We have all the technology to fix it.”
“Unfortunately, nearly half of the people with curable blindness cannot have this surgery, so we wanted to reach as many people as possible.”
The creator’s video is the latest in a string of extravagant, widely-criticized stunts.
In 2021 he will “Real squid game” Inspired by the Korean Netflix drama, it follows poverty-stricken participants competing in a life-and-death “game” for big money. Mr. Beast’s contest winner competed in a non-lethal challenge in hopes of winning $456,000. His videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times, but many criticized him for missing the point of the show, which was a criticism of the gap between rich and poor in South Korea.
Donaldson is also known for his charity videos. his second channel is Beast Philanthropydonates all of its proceeds to various charities.
However, his latest video some online to accuse him of being a “charity for the views”.
“We realized we had moved to a philanthropic native advertising model,” Twitter said. user I have written. “We can never let acts of kindness out of brand building again.”
“What makes Mr. Beast feel insidious is the never-ending cycle of content creation,” wrote another Twitter user. Tweet“The underlying idea that nothing happens without cameras feeding machines. ”
Others online didn’t directly criticize Donaldson, but expressed frustration with the fact that the video existed.
Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Pyker called it a “deep, deeply frustrating concept” recent stream.
“I watched the video and am filled with anger that I blocked access to the procedure for 10 minutes.” It’s very frustrating because it’s up to a person’s YouTube rep.”
Artist Brandon Byrd murmured He believes that in a “healthy society” such stunts need not exist.
“People only get surgery when they need it,” he wrote. good stuff. ”
so tweet on mondayDonaldson hinted at the backlash against the video.
He wrote: “Twitter — the rich should help others with their money”
I — ok, I use my money to help people and promise to donate all my money before I die. Every penny.
Twitter — MrBeast Bad. “
