Great news for anyone who’s ever wanted to have their view of human rights abuses obscured by a rollercoaster designed under the auspices of a guy who blends the vibes of a Labrador retriever with that weird little tricycle puppet from Saw: MrBeast is getting his own (temporary) theme park, and he’s building it in Saudi Arabia.
Yes, issuing a hearty “hold my Feastables brand chocolate protein milk” to all the comics who just got done facing public ire for taking money from the Saudi government for their participation in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, massively popular YouTube star Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has announced the advent of Beast Land, which will be part of Saudi Arabia’s annual Riyadh Season cultural event this year. Started in 2019 in an effort to gin up tourism, diversify the country away from oil, and, depending on who you ask, continue to try to culturewash some of the less savory aspects of the Saudi royal family’s policies toward women and migrant labor, Riyadh Season is funded by the country’s government, and blends sports, games, shopping, and more to create a sort of pop-up version of Las Vegas in the capitol once a year.
It’s not clear, from initial statements and press reports, if Donaldson and Beast Land are directly being financed as part of the country’s Saudi Vision 2030 program, which also included the Comedy Festival, and which counts Riyadh Season as one of its flagship efforts. According to Donaldson himself, he’s just hoping to serve his Saudi fans, saying, when asked about the event’s location, “Middle of the world because a majority of my audience is outside America and we have a big middle eastern fan base. Wanted to give them a chance to participate!”
As for the space itself, it looks, mostly, like a kind of traveling fun fair with an extra dose of neon, and some games that incorporate MrBeast’s Squid Game-meets-Wipeout design aesthetics: Big catapults, people dropping through trapdoors, mazes, etc. As with many things attached to the MrBeast brand, there’s a kid-ified version of our brains that can kind of get into some of that, but—also part and parcel with Donaldson’s whole deal—the scent of aggressively cheerful hyper-capitalism radiating off the whole thing can’t help but feel off-putting.
[via Kotaku]
