I never bothered to ask and now i’m afraid of being outed as an old for asking.

  • Brahboop@eepy.express
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    5 months ago

    @KingThrillgore @asklemmy YouTuber who make money off of throwing money at people to do ridiculous things.
    I do not like his content cause it feels like a billionaire playing with the little people for his amusement.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      I enjoyed a few when I first came across the channel because it reminded me of those shows from decades ago. The ones where someone comes up to you in a toy / electronics store and you have a minute to grab whatever you can for free. That was a fun concept.

      billionaire playing with the little people for his amusement

      However a lot more of the videos feel like this, especially with how well known he is now. I don’t think I’m the target age group regardless.

    • sik0fewl@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      My understanding is that he got his start doing extreme challenges himself, so now that he’s got the money, he challenges fans and gives prize payouts. He also still does his own challenges once in a while.

    • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      My understanding is that there is also a Democratic element to his business model which also works as a form of engagement from his fans who give him their money.

  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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    5 months ago

    You’re not alone. For how immensely popular he is, I’ve yet to ever watch any of his videos, or even have YouTube recommend them to me.

    Night reason I know about him are a few videos from other channels, like the epic rap battles of history episode, and one that was criticizing his ghost kitchen. But I think the first time I heard about him was when every YouTuber was trying to jump on his hype when he was planting a ton of trees or something like that?

    • bl4kers@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      I tried watching a video of his once because I was genuinely interested in the subject. There were so many jump cuts it was unwatchable. Now I know all YouTube videos for kids are like that

      • Scrollone@feddit.it
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        5 months ago

        It’s a worrying trend; kids can’t focus at all these days. They’re always craving for the dopamine rush.

      • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        YouTube creators in general have loves their jump cuts for ages. At first I think it was because they were amateurs who were be to video editing and didn’t understand established editing techniques. But now they do it intentionally because kids can’t sit still for too long.

    • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      From what I hear he’s really not so objectionable and people enjoy his videos. I am yet to ever watch one though and that’s purely out of spite. Somehow YouTube seemed to try so hard to push this dude in particular that I decided to specifically not watch anything he was in, this meant avoiding his stuff and also anything from anyone else I actually like if I could tell from the thumbnail or description he was going to be in it. I just about managed it because I’ve never seen anything with him directly, but I have ended up seeing parodies of his videos so I now in spite of myself know what must usually be in them, and I’ve seen the famous video critiquing all the spin off food businesses he’s started up off the back of his famous name.

      He’s probably really not that bad, even if his obscene wealth is objectionable, but my contrarian nature just can’t abide all the hype and cheerleading. Hopefully when he finally stops being popular, I’ll have managed to miss everything he’s in and maintain my pointless personal record of dodging the beastly bullets.

      • averyminya@beehaw.org
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        5 months ago

        I don’t know the details but there’s a bunch of allegations coming out against him now. He’s been objectionable for a while IMO, but it seems to only just now be coming out.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      5 months ago

      I also haven’t seen anything from him, but I’ve seen things that talk about him. My understanding is he’s a guy who makes outlandish videos, and some of that is “charity” (is it charity if you profit more off the video about it?) that got really popular. Other than that, I don’t really know what he does.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          Technically by definition you’re correct, though there is a lot of philosophical debate about where it’s “good” (in a moral sense).

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 months ago

    All I know is he acts like Elon Musk is his friend, and that pretty much says everything.

    The company you keep speaks volumes, and anyone who would gladly keep company with Musk is a fucking psychopath.

    • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I’m curious as to why you say that as he literally used his first sponsorship to pay off his mom’s mortgage and seems to come from an average standard of living.

      • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        That, if true, doesn’t invalidate that the guy is rich, immature, and makes a living from attracting people to pay him attention so he gets paid even more money. I said it because that’s what he is.

        • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          I get your point now. I interpreted your comment as “he was born rich”. I also didn’t watch the exposé until after I wrote mine.

    • xionzui@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      They won’t be well if they watch him. One of his main money makers is dishonest and probably illegal lotteries where he suggests almost everyone who buys something from him will get some kind of big prize. In reality, the odds are like 1 in 60000, and the requirement of a purchase for a chance to get the prize is probably illegal.

      He also sells chocolate and cookies as “healthy” using similar underhanded promises of rewards. He also runs contests and game shows that are staged and rigged which, again, is illegal on broadcast TV.

      • notfromhere@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        I’m not defending him or his actions. All I wanted to comment on is his candy bars have a handful of ingredients compared to 50+ unpronounceables (exaggerating somewhat) in competitor bars. Sugar and candy is never healthy, but if I have to get one, I usually grab those because it seems like a better option.

        • xionzui@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          The bars were originally 5 compared to 9 ingredients in a Hersheys bar. They’ve since expanded and now both have 9 from what I’ve heard

    • Binette@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      MISSSTEEERRRRR BEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST

  • corroded@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m old. Not old enough to need a prostate exam, but old enough to potentially have children in his target demographic. That being said, he essentially has found a winning formula for videos that amounts to “give away lots of money and make it entertaining.” I’ve watched a lot of his videos; they are entertaining and a decent way to kill 10 minutes.

    I’m assuming you asked this question because of all the recent information that came to light calling him a fraud, and to be honest, it’s kind of a big deal. Part of his brand has always been “these are random people, competing or doing a challenge to win a life-changing wad of cash.” He’s made a point on multiple occasions to say that his videos are never faked. It’s not too dissimilar to any cable TV game show. The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.

    It’s the difference between why people watch pro wrestling vs MMA or boxing. With pro wrestling, we all know it’s a show; it’s a scripted performance, just like a movie or a play. People still watch it and enjoy it, but they know it’s no different than watching a fictional TV show or going to the theater. In MMA or boxing, you’re watching two people compete to see who’s the better fighter. It doesn’t have a predetermined outcome; you’re watching a real competition.

    The problem is that he has always presented himself as being “boxing” when in reality, he’s “pro wrestling.” The people featured in his videos aren’t random subscribers trying to win money to send their kids to college or put a down payment on a house. They’re employees or paid actors who are putting on a show for our entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with mindless entertainment, but call it what it is.

    TLDR: Fake videos, unsubscribed.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.

      Oh I had no idea. I know some people seemed like friends/ other content creators, didn’t know others were faked too

  • jprice@kbin.run
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    5 months ago

    Self proclaimed degenerate (it’s in an interview I saw) pretending to care about people by making squid game a reality.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Yeah he looks incredibly fake in every photo I’ve seen. I’ve seen a few video clips and he’s not quite as bad in those.

    • jet@hackertalks.com
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      5 months ago

      Yeah, I always thought he had resting punchable face in his thumbnails. When I heard people say he had a heart of gold, especially the casy neistat interview I felt bad about thinking he had a punchable face… but whenever I clear my cookies youtube recommends his videos, and I’m staring at his face yet again, and it’s so punchable.

      I’ve never watched one of his videos, simply because anything youtube recommends when you clear cookies is really not my kind of content.

  • CaptainBasculin@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    MrBeast is a really popular content creator that makes videos with high production value; similar to TV Show Contests but with a worldwide audience. He currently holds the title for the Youtube channel with the most subscribers.

    About the drama revolving him; recently, it’s surfaced that one of his friends in the channel called Kris has inappropriately talked with a minor back before; and an ex-MrBeast employee has came out telling that MrBeast himself was favoring people he knew over completely random subscribers; skewing the odds to make the challanges more interesting to watch and also a stream he did way before (signing every T-Shirt bought live) had various elements that are outright illegal in a lot of countries, saying stuff like “if you buy this within the next 10 minutes you have chance to get XXX”.

  • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Can we please avoid all the editorializing in AskLemmy. I came to the comments to see an answer to this question and it’s all comments about what people think about him instead of actually answering the question.

  • neidu2@feddit.nl
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    5 months ago

    Some youtuber who first gained fame counting to a million. Then he pivoted to posting videos of him doing large amounts of altruistic acts such as paying for people’s surgeries et al.

    Beyond that I don’t know.

    • ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Altruistic implies he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart and got nothing out of it, when in reality he was making poverty porn for profit and to further his own career.

      • qaz@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Ehh, it’s better than “the person who can stay in the circle the longest wins 1 million”

        • ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          How? How is directly and unashamedly exploiting poor people for views and profit (while promoting yourself as “self made” no less) better than whatever it is you’re referencing (presumably just another version of poor people being exploited for views and profit)??

          Why do you feel the need to defend the indefensible?

          • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Why do you feel the need to make it so black and white? Clearly, helping people is a good thing, even if done with another motive in mind. To ignore this and say it’s all bad is simply dishonest.

            • ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works
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              5 months ago

              When the “other motives” are literal propaganda that helps maintain inequality at the expense of the people it exploits under the pretence of “help”, it is black and white to anyone who isn’t too busy licking boot.

              • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                First, fuck off with the name calling. Lame and uncalled for, and not indicative of good faith in discussion.

                Second: How do his videos constitute propaganda that maintains inequality? Is he not literally preventing inequality by giving away money or assistance? He also serves as a role model to encourage his viewers to do the same.

    • TheSlad@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Fun fact he actually started out by making minecraft videos in middle school. “Mr Beast” is literally a name thought up by a 12 year old trying to look cool on the internet.