Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson is one of YouTube’s most popular content creators, best known for giving out insane amounts of cash or orchestrating impossible challenges – but his viral videos aren’t safe from copycats.
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MrBeast was made aware of one such copycat channel thanks to a Tweet from Chandler Hallow, a member of his crew, who uploaded a screenshot of YouTuber ‘Morgz’s’ videos as compared to those of MrBeast.
Morgz’s videos appeared to exact copies of MrBeast’s own content, containing such challenges as “I spent 24 hours in slime” and “I put 100 million orbeez in my mom’s backyard.”
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Hmmmm…:thinking_face:@MrBeastYT pic.twitter.com/8OpP16tCXa
— Chandler Hallow (@Challow212) May 16, 2019
A quick look at Morgz’s YouTube channel shows even more apparent dupes of MrBeast’s videos, including content titled “spending 24 hours in an insane asylum” and “24 hours to escape prison.”
While Chandler himself was rather dubious as to the copycat’s intentions, MrBeast had a fairly measured response to the situation.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” he wrote of the issue, appearing to take Morgz’s stolen video ideas in stride.
However, other YouTubers weren’t as nonplussed by Morgz’s videos, with the likes of FaZe co-owner Ricky Banks calling MrBeast’s response “too nice.”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. https://t.co/vdhnoLFrO2
— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) May 16, 2019
MrBeast went on to claim that it would be “hypocritical” of him to call out Morgz for using his video ideas, claiming that he, too, gets inspiration from other YouTube channels.
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“True, but not everything I do is original either,” MrBeast explained. “Tons of people copy me everyday, but it would be hypocritical if I were to get mad at them.”
True but not everything I do is original either. Tons of people copy me everyday but it would be hypocritical if I were to get mad at them.
— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) May 16, 2019
Morgz’s channel is filled with other such eye-grabbing content, such as world record-breaking challenges or over-the-top prank videos, with wacky thumbnails to match.
While Morgz has yet to officially respond to the callout, he celebrated reaching 1.5 billion video views on his channel not long after Chandler’s screenshot was posted – prompting an outpouring of criticism from fans of MrBeast.
And 2/3 of the views are from stolen ideas good job pic.twitter.com/DzV40ljw9r
— CJM_ (@CadenMiller2k19) May 16, 2019
Lookathisdood, stealing content and then saying that there are 3 billion people in the world lmaooo
— BoyleafStudios (@BoyleafStudios) May 16, 2019
“And 2/3 of the views are from stolen ideas, good job,” one commenter wrote.
“Copycat,” another replied. “Stealing MrBeast’s videos.”
MrBeast, while known for his outrageous content, made waves across the internet after promoting PewDiePie in his war against T-Series in late 2018, buying out billboards across his city in an attempt to advertise the YouTube king’s channel.
While MrBeast boasts over 18 million YouTube subscribers, his job isn’t all sunshine and roses; the YouTuber admitted that he had a unique predicament concerning his 2018 taxes, thanks to his generous giveaway videos, which see a major lead over his copycat competitor.