by Alexandra Gajdos
In recent years, it has come to most of the internet’s attention that many of their favourite influencers have either been deceiving their fans for years on end or their own name in police records. YouTube journalists and insider Twitter users have taken it upon themselves to expose influencers for their severe and continuous lapses of judgement, scamming, fraud and cruel intentions.
Beginning in 2012, Jimmy Donaldson (Mr Beast) started off by uploading Call of Duty and Minecraft content at 13 years old. This was the start of his experimental style until he finally nailed his niche, resulting in him skyrocketing to fame. After 5 years of uploading content, ‘I Counted To 100,000!’ was posted on 9th January 2017, fast-tracking Mr Beast’s popularity, gaining thousands of views and subscribers; his content eventually evolved into philanthropy and competition-based videos, earning him 323 million subscribers, on YouTube, as of today.
Previously known as The King of YouTube, Jimmy Donaldson, aka Mr Beast, now faces a 54-page lawsuit. Like any influencer, Mr Beast is no stranger to controversy, but facing the consequences is a recent development. On November 24th, 2021, a video was uploaded to YouTube on Mr Beast’s channel, titled: “$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!”.
‘“We’re all just looking up at the sky,” recalled one game-show participant, “screaming at him like he’s god.”’
The main concern with this is the ignorance towards the reality of the personal debt amongst South Koreans, which was the original point of the Squid Game television show, so Donaldson’s casual flaunts of wealth on the internet have been heavily criticised by various journalists.
On top of this, in recent weeks, Lunchly has been launched, a brand of snack kits, which is being promoted by Mr Beast, KSI, and Logan Paul. According to Rolling Stone, users who have uploaded reviews of the product have noted that there was mold in the cheese. When a Lunchly spokesperson was questioned about the mold complaint, the reply was, “all Lunchly products go through a stringent review process to ensure the quality and safety of its products.” Spokespeople for Mr Beast and Logan Paul have refused to comment on the matter; KSI did not respond in time for the publication of this article.
Additionally, many fans and casual viewers have not forgotten the problematic histories of these creators, specifically Logan Paul. In 2018 he uploaded the infamous apology video which followed the suicide forest incident, of course, this has its own issues but regarding Mr Beast – this could be tainting his ‘charitable’ and ‘good guy’ reputation just by being associated with figures such as Logan Paul.
