Whether he’s curing blindness or hosting an IRL Squid Game, Mr. Beast’s name is always trending for one reason or another. But his most recent headline is pretty unexpected, even by the internet’s standards. Last week, a post on X—albeit with a hint of humor—suggested that the philanthropist behind YouTube’s most subscribed-to account could be the Anti-Christ.
In both the Quran and the Bible, the Anti-Christ, known in Islam as Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, refers to a human-like creature who will emerge at the end of times, leading people astray and embodying ultimate evil. According to both sacred books and surrounding literature, he who will announce the dawn of humanity will pose as a savior, a false prophet, who will perform miracles to try assert his divine authority. Despite his outward appearance of benevolence and goodwill, his true aim is said to bring chaos and widespread corruption of morals to all. Now what does this have to do with Mr. Beast?
Mr Beast has to be the anti christ
— Reverend (@ReverendDubstep) November 20, 2023
The 26-year-old — who’s now seen as the de facto healthcare provider of the United States — has built a name for himself for his XXL stunts on YouTube. From handing out cash to strangers to building a life-size version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, over the years, Mr. Beast-sponsored content on the World Wide Web has been impossible to ignore. In fact, each release tends to bring its own lot of controversies and questions along, as well as a frenzy of reactions online. Now, people are playfully (or not?) debating whether he might be more than just a philanthropic prankster, but possibly the apocalyptic figure mentioned at length in holy scriptures.
look, i’m as staunch of an atheist as they come, but this guy is REALLY not beating the Antichrist allegations https://t.co/hGv9fPBYjd
— ←DOESN’T THINK MRBEAST IS THE ANTICHRIST🇵🇸🏴 (@thinkiamsad) July 7, 2024
In a tweet posted on Jul. 7, X user @thinkiamsad pointed at many alleged similarities between Mr. Beast and the Anti-Christ. Liked over 80,000 times and reposted by nearly 5000 accounts, the claim sparked widespread curiosity, bringing an apparently already popular theory to the forefront of social media once again. Though they later explained that they don’t truly believe the claim, some of the listed comparisons were still enough to get the rumor-mill going.
According to another post, Mr. Beast could be the False Prophet as he “appeared from nowhere with a suspicious amount of wealth, makes hollow imitations of Christ’s miracles (healing the blind, feeding the hungry, coming back to life and leaving his tomb), and is unaccountably popular, desires to rule over us, and is literally called Mr. Beast.”
Although it’s clear that the tweet was made in jest, for some, the alleged parallels were enough to provoke serious thought. Upon closer inspection, it in fact appears that these claims about Mr. Beast have been circulating for a while, even reaching ultra-Christian circles.
Feeding numerous Reddit threads with all sorts of conspiracies and even prompting American Bible professors to address the said allegations, the theory has clearly taken on a life of its own. And instead of being dismissed as another internet joke taken too far, now we have to do all the legwork to explain why Mr. Beast isn’t the Anti-Christ or Dajjal.
While I’m no theologian, I think I have just enough understanding of religion to debunk the current rumors. In Islam, the Dajjal is supposed to have only one eye or a defective eye. Other than sometimes wearing glasses, Mr. Beast’s vision is perfectly fine. He hasn’t rallied millions of people behind him, except for professional doom-scrollers like me who watch his YouTube videos to beat Sunday night blues. And he’s not healing the sick; he’s just providing adequate healthcare that’s otherwise gate-kept by big pharmaceutical companies. Also, it’s said that the Dajjal will emerge from the East, not from a small town in Kansas. Sorry lads, real life isn’t a Netflix show.
For our Christian brothers and sisters who might be tempted to believe these claims as well, most of what I mentioned earlier applies to you too, with a few adjustments. And let’s be honest: God probably has more sophisticated ways of testing people’s faith than on whether they’ve watched a video of some guy trapped in a mall for as long as he can for a cash prize.
The takeaway? Next time you see a viral post making wild claims, remember to touch some grass and use the organ between your skull as whatever you just read is most likely just a load of [redacted].
