One of the world’s most watched YouTube creators, "MrBeast" recently inspired a torrent of anger for a video of him paying for the eye surgeries of 1000 individuals who couldn’t afford the procedure.
The American YouTuber – whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson – received a polarized response for his latest video in which he paid for the cataract surgeries of 1,000 people, helping many of them see better than they’ve seen in decades.
While many users found inspiration in the massive act of charity, a contingent of viewers accused the content creator of performing a cynical stunt for the sake of attracting eyeballs to his channel.
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Donaldson, who has cultivated one of the platform’s largest followings producing videos of him doing outrageous and larger-than-life activities, went for broke with his latest project. The video, which is titled "1000 Blind People See for the First Time," and has been seen more than 65 million times, documents the surgeries, and the recipients emotional aftermath.
At the outset of his video, the creator explained that over 200 million people have trouble seeing the world due to blurry eyesight from cataracts. An eye surgeon featured in the video corroborated his claim, adding that "half of all blindness in the world" stems from this issue, which can be solved with a minor "10-minute" surgery to replace the "clouded lens and replace it with an artificial one."
The video featured MrBeast speaking to several of the people he paid to help, capturing their emotional reactions to their improved vision. He also offered several of the patients an extra $10,000 in addition on top of their surgeries.
Despite many fans relaying how thoughtful and generous MrBeast’s latest project was, many others grumbled.
"There is something so demonic about this and I can't even articulate what it is," one Twitter user wrote.
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In response, author Brandon Bird said, "Because no element of it would happen in a healthy society."
Pushing for universal healthcare, he added, "People would simply get surgery when they needed it, neither misfortune nor acts of kindness wouldn't be paraded for views, and (something I think is being under-remarked upon) you wouldn't need to be megarich to do something good."
Another user commented, "When I give 1000 people a 10-minute surgery that cures their blindness, my YouTube video goes viral, but when I ask why a 10-minute surgery isn't provided to anyone who needs it, they call me a communist."
Another user called the video "Charity porn," adding, "Right at the start of it they say something about how 50% of blindness is curable. Then to see them just dancing around like it's a talk show charity segment infused with the vibe of modern content tailored to our destroyed attention spans feels viscerally wrong."
The negative reaction was enough to prompt the video’s creator to comment on it. On Monday, MrBeast tweeted, "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."
