The Real Reason Why MrBeast Expects To Be Canceled
MrBeast's online presence has evolved quite a bit over the last few years, expanding his efforts from gaming content to big stunts and charity projects. MrBeast's philanthropic efforts have been more prevalent than ever on his channels in recent weeks. He celebrated Halloween by gifting a whole house to a trick-or-treater and his family, then turned around and shared a video about possibly his biggest project yet. MrBeast started hyping up his new effort on November 3, posting, "We've spent over 8 months working on tomorrow's video and it's the greatest thing I've ever done!"
The very next day, MrBeast's YouTube channel premiered a video called "I Built 100 Wells In Africa," in which he and his team flew around the continent doing exactly that, providing access to clean drinking water to areas that have been doing without for so long. Over the course of the video, the YouTuber receives a hero's welcome in every community he visits, and even has the opportunity to encourage young schoolchildren and provide their classrooms with updated facilities. According to MrBeast, he's never been more proud of a video in his career, and it's easy to see why. However, that pride in his work didn't stop the content creator from feeling like he could be canceled for making it in the first place.
MrBeast expects to get flak for his Africa video
Upon posting the new video covering his team's efforts in Africa, MrBeast posted, "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." In the recent past, MrBeast's charitable videos have been extremely divisive among the online community. Where some people take the video at face value and applaud MrBeast and his cohorts for helping people in many different ways, others see his videos as shady and exploitative content.
At the beginning of 2023, for instance, MrBeast uploaded a video in which he paid for 1,000 blind patients to undergo surgery to have their sight restored. The ensuing video, "1,000 Blind People See For The First Time," resulted in the YouTuber being praised for his generosity and slammed for what some have seen as a craven attempt at boosting his channel and profile. A viral post from @LolOverruled on X (formerly Twitter) from the time said of the video, "There is something so demonic about this and I can't even articulate what it is."
There is something so demonic about this and I can't even articulate what it is pic.twitter.com/OSpgaUxnQK
— Lolo (@LolOverruled) January 29, 2023
It seems MrBeast anticipated a similar reaction to his latest video and decided to get out ahead of potential backlash on social media. And just as the YouTuber suspected, the discourse has already exploded surrounding MrBeast's African well project.
The internet debates MrBeast's intentions
Fellow YouTube channel EvanEraTV gave MrBeast kudos for the hard work that went into the well project, commenting, "The internet definitely made the right person famous. Doing what local governments are too corrupt and inept to do. Keep crushing it Jimmy." Others concurred with the idea that MrBeast has assisted in helping people in ways that major governing bodies haven't, with @basedlayer posting: "MrBeast so far in 2023: 100 drinking water wells in Africa. The UN in 78 years: 0."
Others, like YouTuber Fredda, have argued that although MrBeast's intentions seem to be pure, he may not have done enough to educate his audience about why these kinds of projects are so important. Fredda explained, "while he is helping very many people, if he explained why these people don't have water and pointed to systemic issues, he could inspire millions to work to address those systemic issues. His goal should be a world where someone like him isn't needed." Others have pointed out that MrBeast does touch on the problems of government inaction and the misappropriation of funds and resources in the new video, but the jury is still out on whether this point is properly explored. Some viewers don't care what MrBeast's motivations are, as long as good is being done in the world. One Redditor argued, "Why the f*** should I care if charity is self-serving? Is someone in need being helped? Good."
At this point, it should be noted that MrBeast's prediction about being "canceled" has not come to pass. Even so, it's become abundantly clear that the debate over his intentions will continue to crop up whenever he releases a new video like this. In the meantime, MrBeast has asked for fans to donate to the cause and help his team finance the construction of more wells.