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Arguably the most famous and recognizable person on the internet at the moment is Jimmy "MrBeast", and he is the most subscribed-to person on YouTube. The American content creator has over 135 million subscribers and a mind-boggling 22.8 billion views on his main channel alone.
In the 10 years he has been active as a YouTuber, Jimmy has built a reputation for his magnanimous philanthropic content and insane stunts, both of which cost thousands upon thousands of dollars.
Despite having one of the most likable personalities on the internet and overwhelmingly positive stature, the 24-year-old has experienced his fair share of controversies and social media backlash during his time as a YouTuber.
One may wonder how someone synonymous with philanthropy and giving away tens of thousands of dollars to his fans and total strangers has been at the center of even a single controversy. From faking videos to berating some of his employees, here are five controversial moments where MrBeast took center stage.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's views.
Exploring MrBeast's controversial moments
1) Homophobic and racist accusations
In 2018, The Atlantic, an American magazine and multi-platform publisher, explored allegations against Jimmy for using homophobic slurs on stream and in his videos. The North Carolina native had a knack for using such terms in his content and often used the word "fag**t" while interacting with fans and haters alike on Twitter.
Apart from the casual usage of the f-slur, Jimmy often joked about homosexuality during his teenage years, with the word "gay" often being used as a punchline or a gag. On occasion, he even used the n-word while off-screen, as reported by Elijah Daniel on Twitter via a now-deleted tweet.
2) Recreating Squid Game
November 25, 2021, was an iconic day for Jimmy and his MrBeast channel. After actively dropping hints across his social media platforms, the YouTube mogul uploaded a recreation of Netflix's cult classic, Squid Game. However, after nearly dropping around $3.5 million for the video, Jimmy found himself in the crosshairs of a number of organizations and fellow content creators.
Fans of the South Korean drama came forward in droves to explain how MrBeast had completely missed the point of the show and his re-creation glorified wealth disparity instead of addressing it.
Despite raking in over 371 million views and getting a stamp of approval from the director of the original show, there was a massive outcry for canceling the philanthropist.
3) Allegations of workplace toxicity
Jimmy's entire reputation of being a kind-hearted philanthropist was called into question following allegations of harboring a toxic workplace, as publicly stated by Matt Turner, an ex-editor for the YouTuber. The expose followed a New York Times investigation that saw the prominent journalistic organization interview over 11 former employees.
In a series of now-deleted tweets, Turner explained how Jimmy had berated the editor, even going as far as abusing and bullying him on a daily basis. After his tweet started gaining traction on social media, other former employees stated that Jimmy was a "perfectionist" with "unreasonable demands."
4) Clubhouse troubles
MrBeast was yet again at the center of controversy in February 2021 after a voice recording of him went viral for removing a person from his Clubhouse room. The session in question featured the YouTuber and several other influencers.
However, things took a turn for the worse when Jimmy allegedly kicked out a user after being unable to pronounce his name. The user in question, Faroukh Sarmad, said that Jimmy explicitly stated the following before kicking him out of the room:
"I'm going to yote you C0lin, thank you for coming up. Uh, I'm sorry. I'm really bad with names. I'm going to yote you as well.”
5) "The Anti-Christ" gifts vision
On January 29, 2023, Jimmy uploaded his latest video titled 1,000 Blind People See For The First Time to the MrBeast channel. As the name suggests, it featured yet another one of MrBeast's iconic philanthropic acts.
Though quite a few fans commended the young content creator for his benevolent gesture, many were not impressed with the video. They went as far as to term Jimmy the "Anti-Christ" for trying to profit from people who suffer from serious disabilities.
The internet was largely left divided, with many Twitterati suggesting greed was the only reason for this video being shot. However, the doctor who performed over 40 surgeries in less than 11 hours for the video stated that he felt that Jimmy was doing something that could benefit humanity overall.
"If MrBeast can light a fire, and if we can get governmental and private support behind it, we can end half of all the blindness in the world. Without all that much cost, and with incredible gains in human productivity and human potential.”
Despite the controversial moments MrBeast has been a part of, his influence and popularity continues to be on the rise. As such, it was not much of a surprise for his fans when he appeared in a commercial for Super Bowl LVII.
