Now Reading
MrBeast Responds to Criticism That His Philanthropy is “Performative”

MrBeast Responds to Criticism That His Philanthropy is “Performative”

Popular YouTuber MrBeast recently changed 1,000 people’s lives by curing their blindness.

This act didn’t happen unplanned. MrBeast, aka 24-year-old Jimmy Donaldson, has built an entire YouTube channel on videoing elaborate, charitable acts.

Many fans celebrated that he uses his platform for good, regularly finding ways to help those in need.

But, of course, the Internet also had plenty of critiques, as it always does. Instead of acknowledging the good that MrBeast does, many pointed out that by filming his charity for views, the act comes off as performative. Additionally, some argued that YouTube incentives him to be generous, and he keeps more for himself.

At the same time, many felt like MrBeast — whose other charitable acts include helping students pay college tuition, planting 20 million trees and removing over 30 million pounds of trash from the ocean — hadn’t done enough to address the systemic issues leading to these problems, such as ack of financial resources and inaccessibility to healthcare.

But MrBeast took the feedback in stride, and shared that he actually doesn’t bring in a lot of money from his content. In fact, he actually loses an average of $1.5 million dollars with each video. 😳

He also did address the systemic issues at hand, questioning and challenging governments to do more to help those in need.

It’s clear that the Internet will never be satisfied with anyone with a platform, and there’s often good reason to treat influencers with caution. But in this day and age, we need to acknowledge that every act, big and small, can go a long way in making a difference. And thankfully, MrBeast isn’t listening to the haters anytime soon.

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo