Mr. Beast, a YouTuber identified for his extravagant items and philanthropic stunts, paid for 1,000 surgical procedures to deal with “curable blindness” in his most up-to-date video. Although many viewers praised him, the stunt drew blended reactions on social media.
Some critics questioned whether or not Mr. Beast’s acts of kindness are only for the views. Others puzzled why the surgical procedure is so inaccessible, utilizing Mr. Beast’s video as a catalyst to debate health care in the U.S.
Mr. Beast — whose actual title is Jimmy Donaldson — didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In his video posted Sunday, Donaldson stated that many individuals who’ve cataracts might be “cured” with a 10-minute surgical procedure. Cataracts, which might obscure imaginative and prescient by clouding the lens of an individual’s eye, are one of the main causes of imaginative and prescient impairment and blindness, based on the World Health Group.
“We now have all the expertise to repair it,” Mr. Beast stated, by changing the clouded pure lens with a transparent synthetic one.
“Sadly, practically half the inhabitants with curable blindness does not have entry to this surgical procedure,” he stated. So I needed to offer this to as many individuals as potential.”
The creator’s video is the latest in a string of extravagant — and broadly criticized — stunts.
In 2021, he hosted a “real-life Squid Sport,” impressed by the South Korean Netflix drama, that adopted impoverished individuals as they competed in life-or-death “video games” for an opportunity to win a fortune. Winners of Mr. Beast’s competitors contended in nonfatal challenges in hopes of profitable $456,000. Although his video obtained a whole lot of thousands and thousands of views, many criticized it for lacking the level of the present, which was a critique of the wealth disparity in Korea.
Donaldson can be identified for his charitable movies. His second channel, Beast Philanthropy, donates all of its income to varied charitable causes.
His latest video, nevertheless, has prompted some online to accuse him of being “charitable for views.”
“There’s a realization that we’ve moved to the native promoting mannequin of charity,” a Twitter user wrote. “We are able to by no means once more untangle acts of kindness from model constructing.”
“It’s the by no means ending cycle of content material creation that makes Mr. Beast really feel insidious,” they Twitter consumer in a separate tweet. “The underlying notion that if the digital camera wasn’t on to feed the machine nothing would occur. The dystopian thought that we’re reliant on YouTube views as a substitute of competent authorities for help.”
Others on-line didn’t criticize Donaldson straight, however expressed frustration over the proven fact that the video even exists.
Twitch streamer and political pundit Hasan Piker referred to as it a “deeply, deeply irritating idea” in a recent stream.
“I watched the video and I am crammed with rage, that we shut off entry to a 10-minute process as a result of we paywalled it and determined that some folks simply merely cannot get it,” Piker stated. “It’s so insanely irritating that it is as much as, like, one YouTube man to determine to make content material out of it, that people who find themselves too poor simply cannot … see.”
Artist Brandon Chicken tweeted that he believes that in a “wholesome society,” such a stunt wouldn’t must exist.
“Folks would merely get surgical procedure after they wanted it,” he wrote, “neither misfortune nor acts of kindness can be paraded for views, and (one thing I believe is being under-remarked upon) you wouldn’t should be megarich to do one thing good.”
In a tweet on Monday, Donaldson alluded to the backlash towards the video.
He wrote: “Twitter — Wealthy folks ought to assist others with their cash
Me — Okay, I’ll use my cash to assist folks and I promise to provide away all my cash earlier than I die. Each single penny.
