Elon Musk has taken online to defendYouTubestar MrBeast from criticism suggesting he’s profiting off people’s disabilities. His comments on the matter arrived shortly beforeMrBeast responded to criticism over buying houses for his employees.MrBeast’s latest video documented a large-scale effort to gift modern hearing aid to 1,000 deaf people. The May 6 clip, whichMrBeast repeatedly described as his biggest project to date, amassed nearly 50 million views within four days of publication. And while many appeared to be in awe of this act of philanthropy, some other individuals have criticized the video as “inspirational porn,” positing that hearing aid isn’t a magic cure for deafness that MrBeast’s video presents it as.RELATED:MrBeast Buys Entire North Carolina NeighborhoodWhile that conversation was still ongoing, Elon Musk took to Twitter to state that MrBeast’s intentions were inherently charitable, concluding that no one should be criticized “for doing good.” The Twitter CEO went on to claim that MrBeast’s video inspired him to look into the possibility of donating to causes devoted to restoring people’s hearing, adding that it is “very hard” to donate money that does actual good instead of merely producing the appearance of making a difference. Whileextravagant spending is part of the MrBeast brand, a lot of his contemporary content is geared toward charitable giving that Musk was referencing.
Be that as it may, Canada-based deaf advocate Crystal Jones subsequently described Musk’s sentiment as “dangerous,” arguing that the billionaire is helping MrBeast spread misinformation about deafness while clearly lacking the full picture about the issue. Many people are consequently under the impression that “hearing aid fixes deaf people,” Jones wrote on Twitter, adding that the conversation should instead be focused on the issues of accessibility and realistic expectations surrounding this technology.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has yet to respond to the allegations of spreading misinformation about deafness. But his latest video isn’t the first such undertaking that prompted criticism from disability activists. On January 28, Donaldson posted aYouTubevideo documenting his efforts to restore eyesight to 1,000 blind people around the globe. That clip received comparable criticism of feel-good content profiteering, which MrBeast later dismissed on Twitter as needlessly cynical, suggesting some people will simply never be happy.
