My Thoughts on Celebrity Philanthropy
By Max
Billionaire philanthropy has been a common phenomena in recent decades as more people accumulate wealth due to an uneven distribution of the economy. Oftentimes, it is used to increase the popularity of the individual, or to appease sway popular public opinion. However, sometimes the reason behind the wealthiest “charitable” acts is genuine. In this blog, I’ll be reviewing some rare occurrences of this, while also providing my judgment on some popular celebrities. Mr. Beast uploads videos which feature people competing for a sum of money, much like a gameshow. On the other hand, Chuck Feeney gave the majority of his billions out while he was still alive to see their impact. In today's chapter, I will be going over these two examples, and what other people think of them.
In February, 2012, a new video was uploaded to Youtube, a fairly new streaming platform at the time. The tag was MrBeast6000. Today, Mr. Beast is a world wide phenomena who rakes in billions of dollars from his companies and does “philanthropy” by hosting events that are eerily similar to the gameshows of the 60s. His most famous videos include: “$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!”,”Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000”, and last but not least “$1 vs. $1,000,000 Hotel Room!” (the most recent). All of these videos (except the last one) feature contestants fighting over prizes in exchange for their suffering being recorded, and uploaded to hundreds of millions of viewers. In the video “MrBeast's Epic 100 Million Celebration” Chandler recalls how he “had nightmares for over a year” and that “‘this will haunt you for the rest of your life.’”(Chandler). Based on Chandler’s confessions, it is safe to assume that he probably isn’t the only victim. Mr. Beast uses other people suffering for his own gain, while disguising it as "philanthropy" to gain mainstream popularity and attention. That is why I believe that Mr. Beast’s videos showcase cruelty, and that he leaves behind more broken hearts than cash.
In 1984, a man came into a building to sign a check. The check was worth 8 billion dollars, or 24 billion today. The man was Chuck Feeney, a self made billionaire who donated all of his money to charity. He was known for his generous acts of philanthropy, and strongly believed that “you should use your wealth to help people” (Feeny). I believe that this is true philanthropy, without any hinges on popularity. I think that this is becoming increasingly rare, as the media provides an opportunity that is too great for most to resist. However, for this example, I believe that Chuck Feeney was a true philanthropist, putting others' needs over his own greed.
I recently just interviewed two close friends of mine, Derek Kim and Leo Roche. When asked what they thought about celebrity philanthropy, they stated that they both believed that celebrity philanthropy was rarely due to genuine generosity. They agreed with many of the opinions that I have put forth. Using this relatively small sample size, I think that celebrity philanthropy is widely believed to be false, but the content it produces for content creators like Mr. Beast is just too exhilarating to watch. Overall, the general consensus was that Mr. Beast gains more from giving than what he gives. On the other hand, the interviewees agreed that Chuck Feeney was an example of true philanthropy.
Works Cited
Persaud, Christine. "10 most popular MrBeast YouTube videos, ranked by views."
digitaltrends, 27 Dec. 2023, www.digitaltrends.com/movies/
10-most-popular-mr-beast-youtube-videos-ranked-by-views/. Accessed 25 Sept.
2025
"Giving While Living - The Atlantic Philanthropies." The Atlantic
Philanthropies, www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/ giving-while-living#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIt%27s%20a%20lot%20more%20fun,Tech%20and%20around%20the%20world. Accessed 25 Sept. 2025.
"Inflation Calculator | Federal Reserve of Minneapolis." Federal Reserve of
Minneapolis, www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/
inflation-calculator. Accessed 25 Sept. 2025.
Kim, Derek, Personal Interview, September 23 2025
Roche, Leo, Personal Interview, September 23 2025
"100 People Fight For A Private Island." Youtube, 4 Aug. 2022, www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2isYuQZMbdU. Accessed 25 Sept. 2025.
I agree that Mr. Beast is truly not a philanthropist compared to a person like Chuck Feeney. Now that you compared them side by side, I think Mr. Beast is not a genuine philanthropist because he always uses philanthropy as content or sponsorships. In much of his content, he offers a large amount of money to contestants which is won by one person. There is not much information on whether these winners received money or how they are doing today. Before reading this, I didn't know who Chuck Feeney was, but the fact he donated billions is truly a bold act. He didn't even do this in an extravagant way such as using it as content or fame. This is what I consider what true philanthropy is.
ReplyDeleteThis blog definitely covered everything from Mr. Beast to deep analysis of billionaires and ethics. I enjoyed the expression of opinions, as you definitely did not hold them back. The contrast of entertainment-fueled and humble generosity is important, and you explained this topic in a way that makes readers want to think deeper about what genuine giving really means.
ReplyDeleteThis has been on my mind for a long time! Ever since I used to watch Mr. Beast I noticed that is so-called "giving" was really suffering and greed dressed up in charity cases and food banks. I recall that in one of this videos he bought out an entire grocery store worth of food, and can only begin to imagine what kind of problems that could cause to an area with food insecurity. I loved the way you explored it in a neural fashion, but also stating an opinion.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mention why any of these shows of "kindness" are even a problem in the first place, which is how money is unevenly distributed in the economy. I appreciate how overall, you're opinions and analysis is reasonable without too much bias shown. It's interesting how you compared two different acts of philanthropy and showed how it can be used in morally good and bad contexts.
ReplyDelete