An Out-of-Touch Adult’s Guide to Children’s Culture: Mister Beast’s Many Controversies Explained

This week, I’ll delve into the story of Mr. Beast, a 26-year-old internet celebrity who is almost universally known by young people but generally ignored by people over 30. The mega-influencer has more subscribers than anyone else on YouTube and leads a multimillion-dollar empire. But things haven’t been going well for Beast lately.

Mr. Beast in an Age of Controversy

Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson is the undisputed king of YouTube. His channel began 12 years ago with Minecraft videos and has since grown to over 318 million subscribers who “tune in” primarily to his endurance stunt videos , where the Beast gives out large cash prizes to people who spend 100 days in a nuclear bunker , sitting there. a bathtub full of snakes , or steal a giant diamond .

Until recently, Mr. Beast maintained a largely positive image . His videos are annoying but seem harmless. He even runs various charitable organizations . But the worm is actively reaching out to Mister Beast, and lately controversy seems to follow his every move. Here are the main controversies surrounding Mr. Beast over the past month or so:

The Lunchley controversy explained

Two weeks ago, Mr. Beast and fellow mega-influencers Logan Paul and Olajide “KSI” Olatunji announced a new product: Lunchly . Conceived as a competitor to Lunchables, Lunchly is a pre-packaged meal kit aimed at children, who make up the majority of Mr.’s audience. Beast. They each have a Feastable (Mr. Beast’s candy bar) and a Prime drink (Paul and KSI’s drink).

This TikTok video , in which the trio compares Lunchly to Lunchables, illustrates the product launch strategy. The food seems very similar to Lunchables, but Beast and Company focuses on what’s “healthier.” The claims they make in the video are technically correct, but whether one ultra-processed food product is “healthier” than another is a debate.

Then there are “electrolytes”. Towards the end of the video, Logan Paul advertises that Lunchly contains “400 milligrams of electrolytes!” but what he doesn’t say is that most of these electrolytes are sodium. The Lunchly kit contains more than 20% of the recommended daily value of salt per meal. But this is not even one meal. Calories vary by flavor, but Turkey Lunchly contains 360 calories, while U.S. school lunch guidelines recommend 550 to 650 calories for children up to 8th grade. So more salt, less calories. Whether it’s better to have more empty calories or fewer is debatable, but either way, Lunchly is not a “healthy” choice for kids’ lunches by any reasonable definition of the word. Here’s YouTube medical authority Dr. Mike with more detailed analysis:

As for the “vibe” of this controversy, there is something alarming about YouTube influencers selling food directly to children. Large corporations have been promoting children for generations, but the influencers monetizing the parasocial relationships they create seem more personal and sinister. This isn’t a T-shirt or trinket designed to say, “I’m a fan!” This is food . Children put it in their bodies . As influencer DanTDM tweeted :

This tweet is currently unavailable. It may be downloading or has been deleted.

DanTDM has 29 million followers and is known as one of the friendliest and most level-headed people on the internet. DanTDM is loved by young people and generally doesn’t engage in controversy, so when he does, people notice. And that brings us to the next level of controversy about Mister Beast: the company he keeps.

Viral Video of the Week: KSI – Thick Of It (feat. Trippie Redd) [Official Music Video]

DanTDM’s tweet drew immediate reaction from fellow Lunchly maven KSI, who applauded on Twitter/X and YouTube . KSI didn’t respond with details, but he persisted even though DanTDM didn’t respond and the YouTube community almost universally sided with KSI. As one commenter on KSI’s video put it, “You know you’re ready when none of the top comments are from your fans supporting you.”

Many people think that KSI’s spite towards DanTDM is more than just a grudge. Whatever else there is about KSI, he knows how to get attention and many believe he was trying to get attention for his new project, this week’s viral video for a song called “Thick of It”, especially after he posted a tweet claiming to link to an “apology” that actually links to a video for the song.

This worked too. The video was viewed nearly five million times in its first three days, but not because everyone thought it was amazing. The comments section is page after page of YouTubers roasting the song. Some samples:

• It sounds like a high school gym song when the teachers want you to get excited about going to practice.

• PLEASE don’t release this 😭🙏

• The best thing about this song is the advertisement.

• Pretty sure he convinced ChatGPT to write him a “cool rap song.”

• Honestly, it’s impressive how bro managed to turn the entire community against him in a week.

A Brief History of the Logan Paul Controversy

Mr. Beast’s other Lunchley accomplice, Logan Paul, is perhaps a more shady character than KSI. Here are just some of the shameful things he did:

• Uploaded a video in which he joked about a suicide victim whose body his team discovered in Japan.

• Actively promoted an NFT-based game, which many believed was simply a crypto scam .

• An “energy drink” was released containing 200 mg of caffeine per can . That’s about half a dozen cans of Coke or almost two Red Bulls. (The Prime flavor included in Lunchly is caffeine-free.)

• He allegedly mistreated the model during a video shoot, shocked dead rats with a stun gun , and made comments widely considered anti-gay. I could stay here, but you get the idea.

Real World vs Mister Beast

Much of the above could be classified as internet drama, but there’s a more serious, real-life controversy swirling around Mister Beast. We’re talking about his upcoming competition show Beast Games , where he’s bringing competitions and stunts from YouTube to Amazon Prime.

The show features more than 1,000 contestants vying for $5 million, but five of those contestants have filed a class-action lawsuit against Mr. Beast’s production company and Amazon, alleging “chronic abuse” and sexual harassment against the contestants. The lawsuit alleges that contestants did not have access to medical care, food or water, and that contestants on the show should be considered employees under California labor laws.

Whether the allegations are true or not remains to be determined, but either way, the lawsuit highlights the difficulty of bringing content from YouTube into the real world. When you’re on a larger stage, it’s harder to play around with health, safety and labor legislation.

Should these men feed your children?

According to a report from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , children ages 8 to 12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day viewing or using screens, and teenagers spend up to 9 hours a day. Looking at glowing rectangles isn’t new, but the kinds of couple relationships that viewers of influencers like Mr. Beast and his friends are witnessing are new, and we don’t know what impact, if any, it will have on an entire generation. This unregulated and uncontrolled media experiment may not be more destructive than the hours you and I spent in front of the TV after school, but either way, the Lunchley controversy makes me wonder if it’s a good idea to allow people to nourishes the bodies and brains of an entire generation.

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