MrBeast hits back at criticism of his latest video where he cures blindness
Claire Reid
Featured Image Credit: mrbeast/Instagram
MrBeast has responded after being met with a bit of a backlash over his latest video, which saw him curing 1,000 blind people.
In case you missed it, the YouTuber splashed out for 1,000 people to have cataract surgery carried out, giving them their vision back.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, worked with Florida-based surgeon and ophthalmologist Jeff Levenson, who runs the Gift of Sight programme that offers free cataract surgery to people who are legally blind but unable to afford the treatment.
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In the clip, Levenson said: "Half of all the blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery."
Donaldson continued: "If you're wondering how the surgery allows people to see again, it's because the lens in their eyes is so cloudy that they can't see through it.
"So the surgeon uses a tiny vacuum to suck up the clouded lens. And replace it with an artificial one.
"The surgery is that simple! They can see again."
As you can imagine, fans of the 24-year-old YouTube star were quick to heap praise on Donaldson for the life-changing gesture, with many branding him a ‘hero’.
But, while curing blindness in 1,000 people - for free - may seem like an unarguable good deed, Donaldson also came in for some criticism online.
Posting on Twitter, one person said: “He is exploiting poor people's problems for views and money and giving them basic human needs in return, never addressing why they don't have these in the first place."
Another wrote: “Charity porn. Right at the start of it they say something about how 50 percent of blindness is curable.
"Then to see them just dancing around like it's a talk show charity segment infused with the vibe of modern content tailored to our destroyed attention spans feels viscerally wrong.”
Sharing a screenshot for the video, someone else said: “There is something so demonic about this and I can’t even articulate what it is.”
A fourth posted: “The question is why does he need people to see him do good when he can just simply do it off camera.”
Now, in response to the criticism, Donaldson has shared his own post on Twitter, writing: “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”.