James “MrBeast” Donaldson is the biggest YouTuber in the world, known for his elaborate and spectacular videos. However, in his latest video, the American shows that there is still a need for improvement in some areas.
What kind of video is this? In his latest video, MrBeast had people compete from “every country in the world” for $250,000. At first glance, this sounds like a completely normal project from the YouTuber who has previously had people of different ages compete against each other.
However, this seemingly harmless video is currently causing discussions. MrBeast and his team unintentionally highlighted how geography and geopolitics are viewed in the USA (via Jeuxvideo).
Someone apparently went to get chalk for Geography class
What is so wrong with the video? The maps shown after each competition, indicating which countries are still in the running, are causing a stir. It becomes evident that the responsible parties have some catching up to do in certain areas.
A Twitter thread shows some of the blunders that the YouTuber made. Among them is a rather harmless mix-up: The flag of the U.S. state of Georgia was used for the country of Georgia, which is also called “Georgia” in English.
We have embedded the beginning of the thread for you here:
However, other statements also provide amusement and are sometimes quite explosive:
- Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the USA, is treated as a separate country
- The organizers apparently consider Greenland to be part of Canada
- MrBeast recognizes Palestine as an independent state, but not Taiwan.
- The Crimea is completely assigned to Russia in the video.
It seems that there is not only a lack of geographical knowledge, but also an understanding of how much incendiary material such geopolitical disputes can produce.
MrBeast seems to have a talent for receiving criticism for his videos from unexpected angles. For instance, he ensured that 1,000 people received a crucial surgery that restored their sight, yet somehow he ended up being the villain:
