US YouTuber MrBeast sparks controversy by filming at Mexico’s archaeological sites

American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has ignited a firestorm in Mexico after filming a video at several of the country’s most protected archaeological sites, sparking debates over cultural preservation, government oversight, and the ethics of viral content creation.

Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is at the center of another controversy, and this time it directly involves Mexico. MrBeast, who is by far the YouTuber with the most subscribers in the world (surpassing the second-place user by almost 100 million), published a video on May 10th in which he visited some of Mexico’s most important archaeological sites, including Chichén Itzá in the state of Yucatán, home to the Temple of Kukulkan pyramid, known as El Castillo, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. MrBeast also visited the archaeological sites of Calakmul in the state of Campeche and Balamcanché in Yucatán. The video, which as of Wednesday afternoon has accumulated more than 55 million views, shows MrBeast and his team in the surroundings of Kukulkan, but also inside other archaeological structures, in cenotes and temples. Some of these sites are not permanently accessible to the public, as the Mexican government has acknowledged. What is the controversy surrounding MrBeast in Mexico?