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Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is one of the most beloved online personalities of all time — but success didn’t happen overnight.
Donaldson, 26, grew up in Greenville, North Carolina, and began posting videos on YouTube at the age of 13 from his mother’s house in early 2012 as MrBeast6000. The page is mainly inclusive Minecraft and Call from duty let’s play videos and didn’t gain much traction until 2015 and 2016 when the account gained around 30,000 subscribers thanks to a series titled Worst Intros, which mocked other YouTube video intros.
Despite his mother’s insistence on attending college, Donaldson decided to take video more seriously, which led to his mother banishing him from the family home.
Rich Story / Getty Images
The YouTuber recalled his obsession with making viral videos in a podcast interview Colin and Samir podcast in 2021 and said, “That’s all I ever talked about in school. I thought I was a freak of nature. Life.'”
His dedication seemed to pay off when his 100,000th video of himself went viral in 2017. Donaldson’s popularity skyrocketed after the release of his breakthrough video, and so did the concept behind the video. The content on the page often features charitable actions like giving money, cars, houses, and even paying for medical procedures. By the end of 2018, MrBeast had given away a total of $1 million through his videos, earning him the title of “YouTube’s biggest philanthropist.”
As the channel grew, Donaldson hired his friends Chandler Hallow, Ava Kris Tyson (formerly known as Chris Tyson), Jake Franklin, and Garrett Ronalds to help create videos and content. New hires appear regularly in videos and often compete for prizes.
In the following years, Donaldson solidified himself as a mainstream YouTuber with bigger videos and more money. In 2019, he organized and filmed a battle royale competition in Los Angeles with a prize of $200,000. One of the videos, titled “I OPEN A BANK FOR FREE,” published in November of the same year, prompted viewers to accuse Donaldson of using fake money in the video. He later explained that the money in the clip was fake, but the checks the subsequent winners received were real.
Donaldson’s content went viral several times after 2019, including actual recreations Squid Game with a prize of $456,000 for the winner in 2021. In January 2022, Forbes Donaldson ranks as the highest-earning creator, with an estimated $54 million in 2021.
In July 2022, Donaldson became the second individual YouTuber with a channel that exceeded 100 million subscribers, and in November of the same year, he broke the Guinness record for “Most subscribers to an individual male on YouTube” with 112 million subscribers. A year later, in November 2023, the channel surpassed the 200 million mark.
On June 2, 2024, the YouTube channel officially dethroned T-Series, an India-based film production company and music label, as the most subscribed channel on the platform, with 267 million subscribers. Donaldson uploaded a special video of 300 million subscribers on July 13 of the same year, titled “50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000,” and it became the most viewed video on the channel in 24 hours.
Despite being loved by fans throughout his career, his opinion seems to have changed after a 2017 video of him using homophobic and racist slurs has recently resurfaced. This prompted the online personality to apologize in August 2024, which his representative said variety“When Jimmy was young, he acted like a child and used inappropriate language while trying to be funny. Over the years, he has repeatedly apologized and learned that his influence increased with his responsibility to be more understanding and more sensitive to the power of language.” He also added, “After making bad jokes and other mistakes in his youth, as an adult he has focused on joining the MrBeast community to work together to make a positive impact around the world.”
The video and apology came after Ava Kris Tyson, one of Donaldson’s friends and frequent collaborator, cut ties with the YouTube channel after being accused of grooming teenagers. Donaldson made a statement about the allegations on X (formerly known as Twitter) on July 24, 2024, which said, “Over the past few days, I have become aware of serious allegations about Ava Tyson’s behavior online and I am disgusted and strongly oppose this unacceptable behavior.” In the statement, he went on to explain that he is focused on hiring an independent third party to investigate the allegations. Donaldson also mentioned that he has “taken immediate action to remove Ava from my company, my channel, and my association with MrBeast.
Working to sort out the MrBeast Company Chat Log. Here is part 1 with some editing (Beating Discord).
This is from the Telegram channel that MrBeast (John Smith in the conversation) uses to communicate with Kris Ava Tyson and other employees.
Trigger warning when they discuss… pic.twitter.com/HeKVjpWv4G
– Rosanna Pansino (@RosannaPansino) October 27, 2024
Talks about the allegations were again canceled on October 27, 2024, after YouTuber Rosanna Pansino shared a video of an inappropriate text conversation between Donaldson and his employees, including Tyson. Pansino later announced that he had reported his findings and concerns to the FBI in hopes that they would “investigate MrBeast Telegram Company Chat Logs and other issues,” in a post on X.
Donaldson has not commented on Pansino’s video and his cooperation with the FBI.
