MrBeast, the world’s biggest YouTuber, responded to online criticism after a video where he paid for 1,000 people to access eye surgery sparked criticism among some viewers.
The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, uploaded the video on January 28, and it received 59 million views within three days.
“In this video, we’re curing 1,000 people’s blindness,” Donaldson could be heard saying at the beginning of the video, as he stood in front of a large crowd.
Donaldson said he was arranging for people to get sight-restoring cataract surgery, and filmed the patients’ reactions to seeing clearly again. The YouTuber interviewed Jeff Levenson, an ophthalmologist and surgeon he worked with, who said: “Half of all the blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery.”
A subsequent Instagram post from a nonprofit organization SEE International, who Donaldson collaborated with on the project, stated that the organization conducted the 1,000 surgeries around the world over a three-week period for the video. According to the nonprofit MyVision.org, cataract surgery costs an average of $3,500 per eye.
Donaldson also gave away various prizes to participants in the video, including briefcases which he said contained $10,000 each, a Tesla, and a $50,000 cheque for one recipient to put towards a college fund.
The video initially received an overwhelmingly positive and emotional response. On January 30, Donaldson tweeted that he “did not expect” the upload to receive such a large number of views in a short time, receiving messages of support that praised him for his generosity.
“I don’t think you can watch that video without crying. Hope it inspires more projects like this,” wrote one commenter.
