MrBeast Hits Back at Campaign Backlash With 'Video Proof'—'Liars'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
YouTuber MrBeast has hit out at backlash over his 100 Wells Campaign with "video proof."
Newsweek reached out to MrBeast's representative on Friday via email for comment.
Why It Matters
MrBeast—whose real name is James "Jimmy" Donaldson—is the 2025 top content creator in the world with earnings of $85 million, according to Forbes. The outlet previously reported the 27-year-old could "be the first YouTuber billionaire."
On his YouTube channel, which has 420 million subscribers, Donaldson is known for posting extreme challenges and giveaways. In addition to content creation, he launched his Amazon Prime Video show Beast Games in December and has food brands including Feastables, MrBeast Burger and Lunchly.
MrBeast speaks onstage during YouTube Brandcast 2025 at David Geffen Hall on May 14, 2025 in New York City.
MrBeast speaks onstage during YouTube Brandcast 2025 at David Geffen Hall on May 14, 2025 in New York City.for YouTube
What To Know
On Friday, Donaldson took to X to push back against claims there are issues with the wells he built in Africa for his 100 Wells Campaign, which launched in November 2023. To quiet the naysayers, he uploaded videos to his Beast Philanthropy website that showed the wells are fully operational.
The campaign is a charitable initiative that has provided clean drinking water to communities in African countries including Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe. According to the website, over $1,440,000 has been raised from over 28,600 donations—which has provided over 300,000 people access to clean water.
"People desperate for ad revenue have falsely claimed that the 100 wells I built for people in need don't work anymore WITH ZERO PROOF!" Donaldson wrote on the social media platform. "So I sent someone to EVERY SINGLE WELL to get video proof of them all still working over a year later. Checkmate liars."
In the comments, the Kansas native added that the "site might crash" due to "all the clicks," so he uploaded a video of the clips for his 33 million followers.
"If it's down here's basically what it looks like. Just videos of all 100 wells you can watch."
At the time of publication, Donaldson's X post racked up 2 million views and 34,000 likes, while his comment garnered an additional 467,700 views and 5,300 likes.
Site might crash cause of all the clicks so if it's down here's basically what it looks like. Just videos of all 100 wells you can watch pic.twitter.com/neOtyOP7tf — MrBeast (@MrBeast) August 8, 2025
What People Are Saying
On Monday, musician Chris Fronzak—whose X account is followed by Jelly Roll and Waka Flocka Flame—said Donaldson's wells "failed": "I see a lot of discourse about this, but NO ONE is mentioning the fact that Mr. Beast went to Africa & built 100 wells in 2023 & they all failed 1 year later due to lack of maintenance," he wrote on X. "I believe everyone should always help other people, but this idea already failed?"
In June, the Fleccas Talks podcast said Donaldson's wells had been "abandoned": "The water wells Mr. Beast donated to Africa have been abandoned and are no longer working because of lack of maintenance and many are blaming Mr. Beast for 'colonialism' or something..."
The Beast Philanthropy website posted an update on the 100 Wells Campaign on August 1: "All these water projects you see below are fully operational and provide not only clean water, but empowerment to the communities they serve."
What Happens Next
On August 1, Donaldson and other streamers launched the TeamWater fundraiser to further efforts in providing people around the world with access to clean water.
"TeamWater is now live! $1 = 1 year of clean water for someone in need," Donaldson posted to X. "During August me and countless other creators are going to be attempting to raise $40,000,000 to give 2,000,000 people clean drinking water for decades each!!! Donate here pretty plz http://TeamWater.org."
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