In 2023, Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson built 100 wells in countries such as Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. His charity, Beast Philanthropy, facilitated the project.
Despite amassing some controversy at the time, with a Kenyan politician telling CNN that it reinforced the stereotype that African countries are “dependent on handouts,” nobody could doubt that the wells were a force for good. Some outlets claimed that these wells provided clean drinking water to half a million people.
However, TikTok account @cpatnews recently went viral for claiming that Donaldson stopped maintaining the wells, leaving many of them no longer functional.
While the clip was later removed from TikTok, it has continued to circulate on other platforms like X, with one post amassing 17 million views.
In response to this particular post, Donaldson clapped back, saying: “You’re spreading false information. Below is what I replied to the other person spreading this false info. Please stop lying about my philanthropy, it will make it harder for me to save lives in the future.”
In the screenshot provided, Donaldson can be seen responding to another account posting the same video, as he insisted, “THIS IS NOT A REAL NEWS SITE IT IS A BRAND NEW TIKTOK ACCOUNT COSPLAYING AS ONE.”
He later toyed with the idea of suing in a further X post, as he wrote: “When pages spread straight up lies like this with 0 proof, should I sue them? I’m so over people tearing down my name for some clout. It’s so f****n annoying.”
It remains to be seen whether he follows up on this threat, but the most important thing is, of course, that the wells remain functional. Whatever you think of MrBeast, you can’t fault the impact he makes in cases like this.
