American blogger MrBeast has faced a barrage of criticism on social media for posting a video showing him and his team building 100 wells in Africa.
A video of the blogger digging 52 wells in rural communities in Kenya and another 48 wells in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia and Cameroon has been viewed more than 49 million times on YouTube. Comments have praised the Internet star for helping local people, but also criticized him for racism and chasing profit.
In particular, a number of netizens lashed out at the YouTuber for perpetuating the stereotype that people of African descent are the ones in need.
"Yeah more like discrimination and racism, it’s based on the stereotypical belief that those of African descent or black skin color are those poor and 'in need' like no need to pretend it’s for the good of them, you already humiliated them enough, no need to publicly shame them," a user wrote.
"These vids are extremely racist in that they maintain the notion that these countries are still uncivilized societies that need saving," another post read.
Other Internet users dissed MrBeast on the grounds that his charitable actions were driven solely by the pursuit of clicks.
"People respect him for helping people, but it’s delusional to think he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart and not because the attention makes him richer," a netizen wrote on X.
The comment thread added that instead of "just helping those people without being filmed, he films it and exposes those people because that’s how he gets his money."
Other users went further, noting that building wells from the blogger is nothing more than "profit for clicks and investment in capital and control infrastructure."
MrBeast himself shared that he was expecting a "cancellation", when he uploaded the video, but assured that he is not worried.
"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," he wrote on X.