Despite being the richest YouTuber in the world, Mr Beast has frequently faced criticism for the methods he has used to increase views on his well-liked YouTube channel.
Also read: Watch: Cape Town filmmaker teams up with world’s top-earning YouTuber
This time, Mr Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has been charged with exploiting a struggling orphanage in South Africa to increase views on his YouTube channel.
The YouTuber boasts of rebuilding the Baphumelele Children’s Home in Cape Town in a recent video he posted about the project.
Donaldson invested millions of dollars in filming the orphanage’s reconstruction. Days after uploading the video, it received well over 15 million views.
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According to Hope and Homes for Children’s Lourenza Foghill, the YouTuber’s charity act for the SA orphanage was an example of ‘white saviourism’.
Foghill recently told the British newspaper the Daily Mail that Mr Beast was denying children from Baphumele their right to grow up in a family.
While the charity stressed that there was no suggestion of wrongdoing at Baphumelele, evidence has shown that 80% of the 5.4 million children confined in orphanages weren’t orphans and had family who could care for them.
Campaigners say most children who grow up in such institutions suffer abuse and neglect and are more likely to become homeless later in life, experience mental health issues and have run-ins with the law.
Some charities wrote to Mr Beast’s team in March to make the point after his video appealing for donations to save the Baphumelele orphanage hit 15 million views.
With the help of extravagant stunts in which he bestows expensive gifts on unaware members of the public, Donaldson has amassed an astounding estimated net worth of more than $500 million (R9.5 billion).
In addition to claiming a new record, which was unconfirmed, he also targeted his detractors on X (formerly known as Twitter).
To read the exclusive article, visit the Daily Mail‘s website
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Also read:
Beast Philanthropy raises R10m for Baphumelele Children’s Home
Picture: Beast Philanthropy / Youtube