Mr. Beast, Jimmy Donaldson, is known for many things, mainly for having a lot of money. Donaldson uses his money for different things. He gives it to people in giveaways, helping others, and helping the community. Recently, Donaldson made a video for the Mr. Beast channel, where he and his team built 100 wells in Africa. These wells will help provide clean drinking water to up to 500,000 people in Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Donaldson anticipates that he will be “canceled” after the reaction of people on the internet. Donaldson has posted on X stating, “I’m gonna get canceled because I uploaded a video helping people, and to be 100% clear, I don’t care.”
Donaldson was accompanied by a local fundraiser to support the local water aid organizations and he had helped raise more than $300,000 by the following Monday morning. The video Donaldson posted also showed him donating school supplies to Kenyan schools. As well as building a bridge that connects to local schools and hospitals and bikes as well to help kids get to school.
Freelance journalist Ferdinand Omondi stated, “It’s embarrassing that a YouTuber jetted into Kenya on a charity tour to perform tasks our taxes should have completed ages ago.” CNN had reached out to the Kenyan government to ask for a response to what was said and they have not heard a response back yet. Saran Kaba Jones, the founder and CEO of the FACE Africa organization has been doing this for 15 years and has been struggling to keep everything going for multiple reasons. Jones added to her statement and said, “Overnight, this person comes along, who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s also understanding the nature of how the world is.”
Jones was praising Donaldson for putting a spotlight on the problem but she is concerned about sustainability. They are being done now but, it’s more about coming back in 5 years to make sure they’re still functioning well. FACE Africa works in areas where 60% of the wells are broken and people are going back to drinking out of the creek. They hope that Donaldson’s well-building effort included this infrastructure.
Kenyan politician Francis Gaitho went on to X to say the stereotype of Africa is “dependent on handouts…and philanthropic intervention.” Critics have been accusing Donaldson of exploiting vulnerable people to earn views and revenue. Donaldson had responded on X saying “I’m always going to use my channel to help people and try to inspire my audience to do the same.”
