I never bothered to ask and now i’m afraid of being outed as an old for asking.

  • @neidu2@feddit.nl
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    189 months ago

    Some youtuber who first gained fame counting to a million. Then he pivoted to posting videos of him doing large amounts of altruistic acts such as paying for people’s surgeries et al.

    Beyond that I don’t know.

    • I'll be on ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      349 months ago

      Altruistic implies he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart and got nothing out of it, when in reality he was making poverty porn for profit and to further his own career.

      • qaz
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        9 months ago

        Ehh, it’s better than “the person who can stay in the circle the longest wins 1 million”

        • I'll be on ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 months ago

          How? How is directly and unashamedly exploiting poor people for views and profit (while promoting yourself as “self made” no less) better than whatever it is you’re referencing (presumably just another version of poor people being exploited for views and profit)??

          Why do you feel the need to defend the indefensible?

          • @Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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            49 months ago

            Why do you feel the need to make it so black and white? Clearly, helping people is a good thing, even if done with another motive in mind. To ignore this and say it’s all bad is simply dishonest.

            • I'll be on ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              -19 months ago

              When the “other motives” are literal propaganda that helps maintain inequality at the expense of the people it exploits under the pretence of “help”, it is black and white to anyone who isn’t too busy licking boot.

              • @Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                First, fuck off with the name calling. Lame and uncalled for, and not indicative of good faith in discussion.

                Second: How do his videos constitute propaganda that maintains inequality? Is he not literally preventing inequality by giving away money or assistance? He also serves as a role model to encourage his viewers to do the same.

  • Rentlar
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    119 months ago

    He’s a YouTube personality who makes clickbait videos, does random stunts using millions of dollars at a time, and now has a candy bar offering.

    If there is a Mr. Beast thumbnail that catches your interest, usually the last 2 minutes of the video has anything worth watching. The rest is fluff and sponsorships and BS worse than reality-TV.

  • @Alice@beehaw.org
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    99 months ago

    What I gather from working in retail is that “Mr. Beast” is an incantation that brainwashes children into begging for candy bars they’d normally hate.

    • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏
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      379 months ago

      To combine a bunch of explanations I’ve seen in the comments here:

      A bourgeois philanthropist game show producer who dabbles in poverty porn.

      That said, I do occasionally burn time watching some of his videos, however some of the content (especially the more recent game show ones which feel a bit like toying with people) rub me the wrong way.

      I have no idea if his philanthropy efforts are genuine or not - he’s barely visible in those videos (he has another individual hosting those videos) although I do appreciate the efforts they appear to go to when assisting communities desperately in need, and careful implementation of solutions that are sustainable, and can actually be maintained and fixed with local knowledge.

      I’ve seen way too many “gimmicky” charity contributions by other organizations that become worthless as soon as they break because nobody fixes them, as well as other solutions that seemingly make sense from a western cultural lens but aren’t really understood by the local people… worst one being a “merry-go-round” water pump mechanism where senior locals are forced to “play” just to pump water for survival. It was originally intended as a kids toy, but they of course don’t have any attachment to such a foreign device, thus don’t use it.

      Ehhh apologies for the mini rant there 😅

      • @TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Edit: I didn’t see the hit piece / exposé that was made about him until now

        From what I know about him, he is a genuine person, and his projects are done to help people if possible.

        I know that many influencers profit off of suffering/kindness in a scummy way, but I believe that MrBeast is one of the few that actually try to do it ethically.

      • @Nithanim@programming.dev
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        29 months ago

        I feel the same way. The only videos I watch are the ones on the philanthropy channel and the ones where the core is giving away money or stuff (e.g. cars) to random people (or people in need).

        Though, I also question the sustainability of (some of) the philanthropy actions. Don’t get me wrong, giving water and light to people in the middle of nowhere is nice, but when they become dependent and they can’t fix it when it breaks, they could be screwed big time.

        The like five minutes I “researched” the “main” guy of the philanthropy channel (Derrick? Taran?) I came to the conclusion that he seems genuinely dedicated to trying helping people.

    • @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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      49 months ago

      My understanding is that there is also a Democratic element to his business model which also works as a form of engagement from his fans who give him their money.

  • @themurphy@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Alright, I’ll give you the only non-grumpy answer here apparently, from someone who actually knows him.

    His name is Jimmy. He loves YouTube, and want to make the best videos possible.

    He lived with his mom and brother in his childhood. No mention of a father. He played a little baseball, and besides that he really just wanted to make video content. The family was not rich.

    His first brand deal he got, he received 10.000 dollars from a sponsor. He gave it all away to someone and filmed it, gaining another brand deal that then got better and better because he gained more viewers.

    The concept today for almost all of his videos is “game show”. Which means you almost always have a chance to win money. Sometimes he also just gave it random on the street.

    He also is a part of Team Trees and Save the Ocean, doing some environmental work in his videos.

    Now, Jimmy aka MrBeast has a philanthropy channel, where he hired two individuals to go and give money away around the world to poor villages in 3rd world countries.

    He also sells chocolate from sustainable cocoa farms, that is also gentle to the stomach (Jimmy has a stomach disease, don’t remember the name).

    So yeah, that’s MrBeast. He uses all his time and money on videos, and he himself live in a little bunker close to the film studio. He owns almost nothing for himself, but he does own the biggest YouTube brand there is.

    Hope it helped.

    • Nakoichi [they/them]
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      129 months ago

      Yeah not buying this green washing and white saviors. Also, he was recently exposed for rigging his contests for friends and employees. Beat it shill.

    • Oh sweet summer child, how innocent. When someone is a multi-millionare/billionaire and they say they own nothing, just a quaint little bunker, they’re lying to you.

      • @themurphy@lemmy.ml
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        -39 months ago

        I don’t think I gave my opinion on any of the things in my description. He’s making philanthropist videos no matter if you like it or not.

        I was just stating facts, because all the other comments about him where mostly wrong or only sentence like “he’s a YouTuber.”

  • @darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    99 months ago

    Now you made me curious: Why do you know that someone named “MrBeast” exists and why does it interest you who this person is?

    • @TheSlad@sh.itjust.works
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      109 months ago

      Mr beast is popping up in various internet news circles lately because one of his friends/"co-star"s in his youtube videos was just caught grooming a 12 year old. To make things even worse, Mr beast was aware that this friend of his was pedo for years and continued to make videos with him(her). She recently transitioned last year and that was a minor controversy of its own for Mr beast cause most of his audience is cringey transphobic teens and tweens.

  • @corroded@lemmy.world
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    269 months ago

    I’m old. Not old enough to need a prostate exam, but old enough to potentially have children in his target demographic. That being said, he essentially has found a winning formula for videos that amounts to “give away lots of money and make it entertaining.” I’ve watched a lot of his videos; they are entertaining and a decent way to kill 10 minutes.

    I’m assuming you asked this question because of all the recent information that came to light calling him a fraud, and to be honest, it’s kind of a big deal. Part of his brand has always been “these are random people, competing or doing a challenge to win a life-changing wad of cash.” He’s made a point on multiple occasions to say that his videos are never faked. It’s not too dissimilar to any cable TV game show. The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.

    It’s the difference between why people watch pro wrestling vs MMA or boxing. With pro wrestling, we all know it’s a show; it’s a scripted performance, just like a movie or a play. People still watch it and enjoy it, but they know it’s no different than watching a fictional TV show or going to the theater. In MMA or boxing, you’re watching two people compete to see who’s the better fighter. It doesn’t have a predetermined outcome; you’re watching a real competition.

    The problem is that he has always presented himself as being “boxing” when in reality, he’s “pro wrestling.” The people featured in his videos aren’t random subscribers trying to win money to send their kids to college or put a down payment on a house. They’re employees or paid actors who are putting on a show for our entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with mindless entertainment, but call it what it is.

    TLDR: Fake videos, unsubscribed.

    • Otter
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      59 months ago

      The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.

      Oh I had no idea. I know some people seemed like friends/ other content creators, didn’t know others were faked too