- Dr. Jeffrey Levenson worked with MrBeast on his latest video about cataract surgery.
- Levenson told Insider what it was like to work on the mega-viral video behind the scenes.
YouTube megastar MrBeast's latest video sees him gift 1,000 blind people with sight-restoring surgery. It's gone hugely viral, receiving 75 million views and sparking controversy around the subject matter.
Dr. Jeffrey Levenson, an eye surgeon who worked with MrBeast on the project, said Donaldson paid for each of the people, based all around the world, to receive cataract surgery, as none of them had access to medical insurance or free eye procedures.
Some viewers praised the YouTuber for his generosity, while others accused him of performing a stunt for "clout" and views. People also said Donaldson's video pointed to flaws in healthcare systems for people who can't afford or access surgery due to a lack of medical insurance, leaving it up to wealthy individuals like celebrities and influencers to perform charitable acts.
Levenson, who conducted 40 of the surgeries himself, defended Donaldson against the criticism in an interview with Insider.
He also shared how the video came about, and offered a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes production of a video created by the world's biggest YouTuber.
It all started with a TED Talk
In 2017, Levenson, a Florida-based ophthalmologist and the chief medical officer at SEE International, gave a TED Talk called "Ending Preventable Blindness: reinventing cataract surgery." In it, he discussed the work he had been doing to bring low-cost cataract surgeries to the world's poorest populations in order to make treatment more accessible.
In five years, the talk received fewer than 14,000 views on YouTube. But one of those viewers was Donaldson, Levenson said, explaining that a representative got in touch with him over the phone to pitch the video idea to him.
"I got a call from one of his representatives about three months ago and they said, 'Hey, we're MrBeast. We want to do free cataract surgery all around the world for 1,000 people, three weeks from now,' and I'd never heard of MrBeast, and I had no idea what they were talking about. It sounded crazy and outrageous and I almost hung up the phone," he told Insider.
After Googling the YouTuber and realizing this could be a big opportunity to further his work, Levenson agreed to the collaboration, he told Insider.
Filming the video felt like being on a Hollywood set
Donaldson, who is the most-followed individual YouTuber in the world with 131 million subscribers, is known for the elaborate sets and spending on his videos.
Levenson told Insider this project was no exception. Donaldson had around 30 crew members filming him, and he and Levenson collaborated on bringing together 40 patients from homeless shelters and free clinics that the surgeon operated on in a single day for the shoot, while the other surgeries took place in other countries around the world.
"It was a very delicate dance that we did. On the one hand. These are surgeries that are important medical procedures where careful attention to cleanliness and sterility has to be abided by," he said.
"On the other hand, it was a Hollywood set. There were 30 lighting and camera people all around the operating room. And on the third hand, it was a bunch of 20-year-olds making their next viral video. So it was a three-ring circus," he added.
Donaldson was generous on and off camera, according to Levenson
Donaldson, who is known for altruistic videos where he gives away large amounts of money, was also generous to participants when the cameras weren't rolling, Levenson told Insider.
In the video, Donaldson could be seen giving out prizes including briefcases which he said contained $10,000 in cash, a Tesla, and a check for $50,000 for one patient to put towards a college fund.
But when one participant couldn't make it to a video shoot to explain her backstory after her surgery, missing out on a $10,000 cash prize from Donaldson as a result, the YouTuber offered to transfer the money to her bank account anyway, according to Levenson.
The surgeon told Insider that the YouTuber also donated to a fund set up by staff at the surgery to raise money for the husband of a nurse who was injured in a motorcycle accident.
"He was generous far beyond those things that are visible in the video," Levenson said.
—MrBeast (@MrBeast) January 30, 2023
Levenson told Insider that Donaldson insisted on trying to interview each of the 40 Florida-based patients, to find out more about their lives and how their sight issues have impacted them.
"Jimmy was there with every case. He got to know every patient on a more intimate level than I frankly usually do myself, and he played an important role in ensuring that every patient felt comfortable and cared for," he said.
Levenson thinks Donaldson's video has had a huge impact so far
Levenson, who has been working on projects to provide free cataract surgeries for over a decade, said that seeing dozens of people access treatment in a single day because of Donaldson's video had a "huge emotional impact on all the staff" at his surgery.
"There wasn't a nurse who didn't cry at some point during the day, and I remember I got done at the end of the day and went home and just broke down in tears of gratitude," he told Insider.
The surgeon said he is glad that Donaldson's video drove conversation and debate about the issue of preventable blindness and that he appreciates that the YouTuber dedicated his efforts and platform to raising awareness about this issue.
"I've been shouting this from the rooftop for 10 years and very few people have heard. I'm so grateful that Jimmy was one of those who did and that he used his megaphone to introduce the world to the problem," he said.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.