Deaf social media users are criticising MrBeast after he helped 1,000 deaf people hear for the first time, arguing his stunt is ‘ableist’.
MrBeast – whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson – unveiled his latest video yesterday, tweeting: “We helped 1,000 deaf people hear again! Go watch.”
In the six-minute clip, Donaldson introduced us to several of the people they ‘helped hear again’ after getting their hands on ‘$3 million of cutting edge technology’.
Many of those featured in the video were seen tearing up after hearing loved ones for the first time, with Donaldson even having a little cry himself at one point.
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On top of the gift of hearing, the YouTuber also handed out presents including $10,000, a jet ski, basketball tickets and a shopping spree at a toy shop.
The team then flew to Mexico to ‘help 200 deaf people’, including Leo Bardo and Selmai, who had always wanted to hear their daughter’s voice but couldn’t afford the technology to do so.
“Thank you for doing this for me,” Selmai told Donaldson in the footage.
They also went to Guatemala, Brazil, South Africa, Malawi and Indonesia.
“I learned while filming this video that providing hearing isn’t the only way to connect people,” Donaldson said.
“Sign language connects people whether they can hear or not.
“But access to learning sign language is still very limited in many places, so we’re gonna donate $100,000 to organisations around the world that are teaching people sign language.”
The video was met with a divided reaction online, with some praising the MrBeast team for helping so many people.
One commented on YouTube: "Can we just appreciate what he is doing I'm sure a lot of people would want to change the world but Jimmy is actually changing it huge respect"
Someone else said: "From the bottom of my heart, thank you for continuing to shine light in this world no matter what battles come your way."
But others felt frustrated by the stunt, including a number of people from the deaf community.
One deaf man tweeted: “People don't realize how exhausting wearing hearing aids can be. People also misunderstand the reality of using them because they don't cure deafness.
"There's still a lot of struggles on top of feeling obliged to wear them because no one will accommodate you.”
He added: “Also there's so many variations of deafness that there's all sorts of hearing aids that aren't suitable and some people can't or don't want to use an aid. So don't go thinking they're the fix all solution.”
Someone else said Donaldson was ‘ableist’, with another writing: “One specific thing that was just the cherry on top for me, was the on/off switch animation that they edited onto the video when testing out the hearing devices for the first time. further perpetuates harmful stereotypes and ideas that deafness is all or nothing - ‘on or off’.”
One other said: “Hearing aids aren't an on/off switch. And hearing and listening are not the same thing. Listening takes a hell of a lot of mental effort when you have hearing loss with or without hearing aids.”
Another added: “Wow man pretty ableist of MrBeast to assume that deaf people have a ‘problem’ that needs to be ‘fixed’.”
LADbible has reached out to MrBeast for comment.
Topics: World News, YouTube, MrBeast
Jess Hardiman