MrBeast Faces Backlash Over $10M Ghana Project: Here's How He Responded To Critics

YouTube star and philanthropist MrBeast has responded to online criticism for his decision to spend nearly $10 million on a village in Ghana, saying his charity work also extends to his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina.

MrBeast responds to criticism

The criticism followed the unveiling of Abna Dakwa Village, a project in Ghana’s eastern region designed to support families affected by child labor in cocoa-growing communities. The initiative includes a school for more than 300 children, 10 teachers’ homes, a medical clinic, clean drinking water, solar energy, agricultural facilities and a community market.

The project reportedly took about a year of development and eight months of construction. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, described it as his biggest humanitarian build to date.

The scale of the spending prompted one X user to question why Donaldson invested millions in an overseas project instead of doing more in Greenville, where he grew up. The user pointed out the city’s poverty rate while questioning the focus of his philanthropy.

A person who goes by the username @Antunes wrote: “I wonder why MrBeast doesn’t do more for his hometown of Greenville, NC where the poverty rate is 25% (more than twice the national average)? (sic).”

Donaldson responded directly, saying he “literally” supports his local community. He pointed to his 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Beast Philanthropy, and said it has distributed tens of millions of meals in the U.S., including his hometown.

To which MrBeast responded: “Literally yes. I have a 501c non-profit and I’ve disrupted 10 million MILLION meals in America, many in my local community. If I were to list all the philanthropic things we do locally, I literally couldn’t fit it into this tweet. (sic)”

Beast Philanthropy’s work in Greenville

Beast Philanthropy’s own numbers show that its Beast Pantry, which started in Greenville in late 2020, has delivered more than 48 million meals and distributed more than 60 million pounds of food. The organization says the pantry now serves more than 20 communities throughout eastern North Carolina, providing about 80,000 meals each month.

The Ghana project is part of a wider focus on keeping children out of illegal work and education. Beast Philanthropy says its Ghanaian child labor initiative currently has more than 10,000 direct beneficiaries and is built on a minimum five-year commitment.

The organization also announced a partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to support school meals in the Eastern Region of Ghana and in Kenya’s Bomet District. The aim of the program is to improve nutrition and attendance while helping to reduce the pressures that can push children to give birth.

MrBeast has previously acknowledged that his humanitarian videos generally attract less engagement than his entertainment-oriented content. In a post before the video from Ghana, he said he expected it might not work so well, but he wanted to do it because he cared about the project.

The opposition therefore focused less on whether he was providing aid and more on where he chose to direct the large sum of money. His response highlighted the wider scope of his philanthropic operation, which Beast Philanthropy says now operates in more than 25 countries.