YouTube mega-star MrBeast said he believes he's 'gonna get canceled' over his latest video
YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, has been criticized in the past for his charity-inspired videos, which often go viral. Now he's trying to get ahead of it.
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- YouTuber MrBeast posted a video about building 100 wells in Africa.
- The creator has been criticized for his charity-themed videos in the past.
- MrBeast took to X, formerly Twitter, and said he didn't care because he wanted to help and inspire.
YouTube megastar MrBeast hit back at critics of his philanthropic videos after he posted another viral upload that showed him and his crew building 100 wells in Africa.
The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is the most followed individual creator on YouTube with over 207 million subscribers on his main channel. He posted his latest video on November 4, titled "I Built 100 Wells In Africa," which has received over 50 million views in two days.
"This is the first of 100 wells we're gonna build in this video," Donaldson said at the beginning of the upload, as he stood in front of what appeared to be a large drill that splashed him with water, before he added in a voiceover that this particular well was being built in a village in Kenya.
Throughout the 10-minute upload, Donaldson said the 100 wells he intended to create would "give around half a million people fresh water to drink," and added that he was greeted by cheering students and a welcome ceremony when he visited the local areas.
In the video, Donaldson spoke with a woman who he said was a school teacher and showed the river which students had previously used as a water source. She said they experienced diarrhea and typhoid fever, a life-threatening bacterial infection, as a result.
Alongside building wells, Donaldson said he also updated a local school with new computers, furniture, and books, donated a soccer ball to every student, and replaced their old chalkboards with whiteboards and projectors.
The YouTuber then traveled to Zimbabwe where he continued to build more wells and donated bicycles to local students, and visited Uganda, Somalia, and Cameroon to provide more access to fresh water.
The upload received a hugely positive response in the YouTube comment section, where Donaldson and his team were praised for their ongoing charitable work, however he appeared to anticipate backlash.
On November 4, the same day he uploaded the video, Donaldson posted on X, formerly Twitter, to preemptively address any further criticism that would come his way as a result.
—MrBeast (@MrBeast) November 4, 2023
"I already know I'm gonna get canceled because I uploaded a video helping people, and to be 100% clear, I don't care. I'm always going to use my channel to help people and try to inspire my audience to do the same," he wrote.
The post received 27.3 million views and 11,000 comments, which praised the YouTuber for his charitable work, and encouraged him to ignore the critics and keep posting similar videos. Insider was unable to find any posts from people calling for him to be "canceled" over the video.
However, in the past, the creator has been criticized for making less privileged people a focus of his mega-viral videos.
In January, he racked up over a quarter of a billion views from just two videos alone on his main channel, where he paid for eye surgery for 1,000 people with cataracts and bought hearing aids for 1,000 deaf people. While many of his viewers celebrated the videos and what Donaldson had helped achieve, some felt uncomfortable with the concept of featuring people with disabilities for content and accused the YouTuber of using them for online clout, Insider previously reported.
At the time, Donaldson addressed the criticism in a post on X.
"Twitter - Rich people should help others with their money. Me - Okay, I'll use my money to help people and I promise to give away all my money before I die. Every single penny. Twitter - MrBeast bad," he wrote.
Donaldson made a name for himself on YouTube with his elaborate and high-budget videos where he regularly gave away substantial cash prizes, and has launched dozens of humanitarian aid projects on his second YouTube channel Beast Philanthropy.
Representatives for Jimmy Donaldson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.