Popular YouTuber MrBeast recently embarked on a philanthropic journey to build 100 water wells in various African countries. But surprisingly, the YouTube star’s actions have generated disapproval from several prominent figures.
In a recent video on his YouTube Channel, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, showcased his mission to provide clean drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in multiple African nations. The 10-minute video shows Donaldson’s efforts as he builds 100 water wells in Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Alongside these efforts, he also raised over $300,000 for water aid organizations in the country. Donaldson even constructed a bridge to connect a small village with its schools and hospital, and donated various supplies to local schools.
However, not everyone is singing his praises.
Two notable individuals have spoken out and condemned Donaldson for his humanitarian efforts. The first is Saran Kaba Jones, founder and CEO of the organization FACE Africa, which focuses on improving water infrastructure in Africa. Kaba Jones highlighted her fifteen years of dedicated work in the field and lamented the fact that MrBeast, a white male with a massive platform, received substantial attention.
“Overnight, this person comes along, who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s also understanding the nature of how the world is,” Kaba Jones complained.
But shortly after these comments, Kaba Jones found herself under scrutiny from internet sleuths online. In a now-viral post, one user on X pointed out that Kaba Jones’ organization had raised $131,000 in 2020 for aid to Africa, but actually spent $83,000 of it on themselves.
Another critic, Kenyan politician Francis Gaitho, complained that MrBeast’s efforts to provide clean drinking water for Africans perpetuate the stereotype that Africans are “dependent on handouts and philanthropic intervention.” However, it’s important to note that the video serves as a catalyst for raising awareness of the water crisis in Kenya and other African countries. Gaitho’s condemnation of these efforts is presumably because it makes the Kenyan government look ineffective.
MrBeast’s YouTube channel, which has over 200 million subscribers, has a history of philanthropic videos aimed at helping people, from funding eye surgery for the visually impaired, to donating 20,000 pairs of shoes to South African children. In response to the backlash, Donaldson posted on X, “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.”
This piece first appeared at TPUSA.
