Is This YouTuber Spreading The Word About Preventable Blindness Or Just Being Weird?

YouTuber MrBeast has sparked fierce controversy after paying for a thousand people to have their preventative blindness treated in a video that’s racked up over 54 million views in two days.

As the most subscribed person on the platform (he’s currently sitting pretty at 130 million subs), MrBeast is known for philanthropic content that sits somewhere between the adolescent curiosity of The Try Guys and the sensational charity of Oprah Winfrey — though he’s gifting far more than cars and movie tickets. 

The pure spectacle of MrBeast’s videos is unrivalled. From funny shower-thought concepts to gargantuan projects that involve gifting lucky supporters a literal island, he’s made his name by pairing innate human curiosities with American excess. 

Beauty And The Beast: What’s The Controversy Surrounding Mr Beast’s New Video?  

His latest video is a perfect example of the form. Fronting the cash for one thousand participants to receive treatment by SEE International, MrBeast dons blue scrubs to capture the ecstatic before and after reactions of the lucky patients. In the video, some self-confessed fans of the YouTuber are graced with special treatment, with one receiving an additional $50,000 to go towards his university fees, while another receives a brand-new Tesla. In a series of ridiculous moments, MrBeast brings patients back to the surgery lobby to see if they can read the distance vision eye test chart with their newfound vision. The sign reads: “You Just Won $10,000”.

Later in the video, MrBeast shares a montage of people receiving treatment in countries that include Mexico, Honduras, Indonesia, and Brazil.

“I wonder if we’ll get 1,000 more views from the people we cured lol,” MrBeast jokes in the video’s closing moments.

The video blew up, with MrBeast sharing that it had garnered 50 million views in a single day.  The YouTuber then followed up by lamenting the state of preventable blindness in the US, before posting a public poll asking followers if they would vote for him if he ran for president. 

Finally, the sugar crash hit. Seemingly caught off-guard by the mounting reaction touting his latest act of charity as “demonic“, MrBeast lashed out.

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

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) January 30, 2023

Hindsight Is 20/20, But Is MrBeast’s Charity Actually Helpful?

The list of charitable achievements accomplished by MrBeast in his YouTube bio are reminiscent of a 14-year-old’s vision of epic philanthropy. Acts like “Raised $20,000,000 To Plant 20,000,000 Trees” are listed above achievements like “adopted every dog in a shelter” and “given away over 100 ps4s lol”.

But while broad signifiers like tree planting can be messy breeding grounds for con artists, it’s hard to say if any of these spectacular videos actually do anything to address the causes behind them. Like comedian Celeste Barber’s multi-million gofundme page for the Rural Fire Brigade during Australia’s deadly 2020 bushfire season, the real solutions needed to fix complex structural issues can be obfuscated when staggering amounts of money are allocated to fixing a “simple” problem.

In Australia — a country with free healthcare — preventable blindness is still an endemic issue for First Nations people across the country. Despite a high number of well-funded stakeholders and charitable organisations actively trying to effect change, First Nations people are six times more likely to go blind and twelve times more likely to develop cataracts than non-Indigenous Australians.

Perhaps the cause of this issue is best identified by the callous remarks of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who decided against funding the “lifestyle choices” of those living in remote communities. Either way, preventable blindness is complex and multifaceted, and sadly won’t be solved overnight by a multi-millionaire YouTuber. Sorry.

Does The Motivation Behind Charity Even Matter?

Comments from MrBeast’s supporters posit that critics are simply missing the point. “I swear, this man needs a Nobel peace Prize,” gushes one viewer in the comment section of MrBeast’s latest video, while others share “this made me cry with joy”. We’re not saying they’re misguided, but you can’t blame us for not entirely trusting the guy who only recently got in trouble for a tone-deaf and shameless recreation of Squid Game. 

For the 1000 Americans who have MrBeast to thank for their restored vision, the argument that his acts of charity are merely superficial bears no weight. But like a harmless game of softball with the Roy Family, it’s hard to say whether the activity is all in good fun when we know that the other team possesses a life-changing amount of wealth.