MrBeast's seven biggest controversies

He’s the biggest name on YouTube, but it hasn’t always been plain sailing for MrBeast.

The content creator, real name Jimmy Donaldson, is hugely popular and has gained more than 206 million subscribers since first joining the platform back in 2012.

In that time, he’s achieved an awful lot. Recently, MrBeast was number one on the Forbes Top Creators 2023, after he amassed earnings of $82m.

He’s also managed to attract some criticism away from the camera – these are his biggest controversies.

Rosanna Pansino feud accusations and editing allegations

Rosanna Pansino, another popular YouTuber, previously apologised after accusing MrBeast of unfairly editing her during a recent video.

The YouTuber previously accused MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, of effectively lying about the outcome of a recent viral challenge.

Pansino competed in one of the three hide-and-seek challenges hosted by MrBeast in Creator Games 3, and she previously accused MrBeast of presenting a version of events which didn’t really happen and reducing her role in the clip.

Now, though, she appears to have redacted her apology – only to delete the redaction.

Pansino isn’t the only figure to criticise MrBeast for editing the videos and “scripting” his challenges.

Top streamer xQc has added his thoughts and accused MrBeast of “scripting” his challenge videos.

Speaking to people in his chat, xQc told his viewers to “get out” if they ever find themselves competing in a MrBeast challenge video.

xQc, real name Félix Lengyel, then shared his “number one tip” with his followers, saying: “If you can get out, get out. Okay?”

“MrBeast’s endgames are so scripted and dumb. The dumbest s*** happens, just f****** go home, dude.”

He added: “If you weren’t in on the script, okay, you’re done. Go home, dude.”

xQc thinks MrBeast scrips his videoswww.youtube.com

Accused of “cruel prank”

MrBeast videos are normally fun, bombastic affairs, but one clip from earlier in 2023 was accused of being mean-spirited and “cruel” by viewers.

The YouTuber has given out amazing prizes like cash and cars in the past, so when he and fellow creator, James Seo, approached two kids in a store and asked them to choose between “$1 dollar or [a] mystery gift” they happily chose the latter.

The clip showed two boys ripping into the wrapped “mystery gift” box. As they opened the box, they found another smaller box inside and continued to tear them open as they got progressively smaller.

But, as they unwrapped it they found a $1 dollar bill in a wooden box, meaning the whole unwrapping saga was completely pointless.

Being called a ‘scumbag’ for helping deaf people

1,000 Deaf People Hear For The First Timewww.youtube.com

One of MrBeast’s most contentious videos to date saw him “help 1,000 deaf people to hear”.

The six-minute clip, which racked up 36 million views on YouTube alone in just two days earlier this year, saw MrBeast give groundbreaking hearing aids to his subjects and film their stunned reactions as the devices were turned on.

He explained in a voiceover: “We got our hands on over $3 million worth of cutting-edge hearing technology, that, unlike old hearing aids, analyses people's specific hearing needs, allowing them to hear again without causing any damage.”

His exploits were considered damaging to countless viewers who have accused him of producing little more than harmful “inspiration porn”.

MrBeast later offered a seven-word riposte to critics of his latest high-profile stunt.

Being 'cancelled' over accusation that 'makes no sense'

MrBeast was forced to respond to the backlash after reports that he has bought almost all the houses on one street for his staff and family to live in.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Donaldson had purchased multiple homes on one street in a cul de sac in North Carolina, close to where he grew up.

In response to the news, MrBeast has been on the receiving end of some backlash as some accuse him of being a “culty”.

It seems MrBeast saw some of the criticism and defended himself for getting “cancelled” over a good deed.

He replied: “Only I could get canceled for giving people a place to live with no strings attached.

“All these company town tweets make no sense, I was just helping some people.”

The burger lawsuit

It was reported back in August that MrBeast was being counter-sued for $100 million by Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind Beast Burger restaurants.

MrBeast shared in June that he was going to be “moving on” from his Beast Burger restaurants in order to concentrate more on his snack business with his chocolate bar brand Feastables.

Just over two years ago Donaldson partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to launch over 2,000 ‘ghost kitchens’ to make Beast Burger available across the United States.

In the summer, MrBeast confirmed that he was suing the company behind his burgers over quality control complaints, while also claiming not to have received payments.

Now, VDC are suing Donaldson for failing to honour his contractual obligations, as well as intentional tortious interference. The lawsuit was filed on Monday morning in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York.

Showing Ukraine on a map without Crimea

MrBeast found himself embroiled in controversy over accusations he showed a map of the world where Crimea was not a part of Ukraine.

In an upload to his YouTube channel, titled ‘Every Country On Earth Fights For $250,000’, Donaldson held a series of events to crown the winner from 195 countries who would take home a gold medal.

Such a decision has proven contentious online, given Crimea was annexed in 2014 by Russia, the country which, of course, is at war with Ukraine following its illegal invasion in February last year.

Accused of lying by Andrew Tate

This isn’t so much a controversy as a beef with Andrew Tate, and some would say that annoying him is more of an achievement than something to be criticised for.

Tate made it clear he was upset he didn’t win a MrBeast competition, and he’s claimed the YouTuber’s latest giveaway is a “lie” and claiming it’s the work of “Satan”.

MrBeast previously announced that he’d be giving away his Twitter revenue for a month to the person who could achieve the most likes with their reply to his Tweet.

“Whoever has the most liked reply to this in 48 hours gets all my Twitter revenue for the next month,” MrBeast posted, prompting a flurry of responses.

Tate was one of the people who replied to MrBeast, and he managed to rack up more than 279,000 likes. The controversial influencer originally said he’d give the money to his own charity, Tate Pledge, if he won.

Tate didn’t take it well after the winner was announced (it wasn’t him), claiming that it was a “lie” and thousands of “bots” had faked the result.

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