If a man gives 20,000 African children shoes and 3 million people (and counting) see it, does it really count as philanthropy?

This is the question social media is debating once again after MrBeast, fresh off becoming the subject of Antichrist comparisons for curing the blind in January, released a new viral video in which he worked with his charities to gift 20,000 African children their first pair of shoes.

As with MrBeast's "1,000 Blind People See for the First Time" video, a debate has emerged on the pureness of MrBeast's motivations, as some commenters have argued that the views, brand recognition and potential ad revenue he would receive from turning his charitable work into a YouTube video sullies whatever good his charity work does.

Others have argued that regardless of MrBeast's motivations, which he's stated are pure, the end result is 20,000 children now have shoes, and that outweighs any benefits MrBeast might receive from making his charity work so public.

One argument voiced by Jezebel just hours before the "shoes" video controversy began developing contended that MrBeast's "stunt philanthropism" only serves to underline severe economic issues affecting the globe.

The article implies that MrBeast should use his wealth to address economic realities that prevent blind people from getting an available surgery to clear their blindness or African children from getting shoes. The article notably cites a tweet by user @itsmebee9402 to make the point.

This round of discourse will likely do little to change MrBeast's charitable content, nor create a consensus on whether it's "good" or "bad," portending a grim future where MrBeast keeps doing charity work and people argue about it online forever.