Despite receiving significant criticism over a video in which he helped treat 1,000 people’s blindness, popular YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has doubled down on making videos about ‘helping’ disabled people with a new upload in which he helps 1,000 deaf people “hear for the first time”.
In a video shared to his 150 million subscriber strong YouTube channel on Saturday (6 May), Donaldson can be heard listing the names of individuals he bought hearing aids for, adding that he also helped “entire families hear their loved ones again”.
“But they are only a few of the 1,000 people that we’re going to help hear again today,” he said.
Alongside the hearing technology – which only simulates the sensation of hearing, and does not ‘fix’ or ‘cure’ deafness – Donaldson also handed out briefcases full of cash in true MrBeast fashion.
Though in one bizarre exchange, the content creator asks one individual: “Which is better, hearing or the 10 grand?”
We’re not sure you should be pitting something as important as hearing against something as life-changing as $10,000, Jimmy, but we move…
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Yet while fans of MrBeast have described the video – which the internet personality says required “almost 4,000 hours of editing” and is going to “change YouTube” – as “amazing” and “emotional”, actual Deaf people are far from convinced:
Some have even branded the video “inspiration porn” – a term coined by the late disability activist Stella Young during a TEDx talk in Sydney in 2014.
After listing a series of images and examples which fit this description, Young said: “I use the term ‘porn’ deliberately, because they objectify one group of people for the benefit of another group of people. So in this case, we’re objectifying disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people.
“The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them and think, ‘Well, however bad my life is, it could be worse. I could be that person’.”
Since MrBeast’s video was released, other Twitter users have dismissed concerned individuals as “haters” and made deaf ‘jokes’ about the video – including that the news is something they “love to hear”.
Yes, really.
Although MrBeast is yet to respond to the latest backlash, he did issue a comment when similar concern was levied at his video about blind people.
He tweeted: “Twitter – Rich people should help others with their money.
“Me – Okay, I’ll use my money to help people and I promise to give away all my money before I die. Every single penny.
“Twitter – MrBeast bad.”
Good to know he takes reasonable feedback seriously…
indy100 has approached MrBeast for comment.
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