MrBeast Dreams Of Elon (With Kat Tenbarge And Steven Asarch)

Nov 21, 2025

Join internet culture reporters Kat Tenbarge and Steven Asarch as they dive into the controversy surrounding MrBeast’s new theme park, Beast Land, revealing it as a mere marketing ploy. They discuss the shallow aesthetics, MrBeast's idolization of tech moguls, and the troubling age-verification measures being implemented on platforms like Roblox. Kat shares a quirky ASMR story about transforming a fan into a puppet, while they explore the growing impact of digital surveillance on user safety. This light-hearted yet insightful conversation tackles the intersection of entertainment and ethics.

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INSIGHT

Brand Over Experience

MrBeast's brand is stunt-driven and lacks a coherent creative core beyond big giveaways and challenges.
That makes Beastland function as marketing rather than a durable, quality theme park experience.

INSIGHT

Spectacle Trumps Substance

Beastland's purpose is gesture and spectacle: the Saudis want attention, not world-class rides.
The physical attractions are irrelevant so long as the poster and spotlight exist.

INSIGHT

From Creator To Conglomerate

MrBeast is shifting from YouTuber to scalable brand and idolizes tech moguls like Elon and Steve Jobs.
That ambition drives moves like theme parks, merch, and faux anime to sit at a larger table.

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On this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of the finest internet culture reporters to ever lace up their boots and wade into the muck, Kat Tenbarge and Steven Asarch, to discuss why MrBeast’s new theme park, Beast Land, is so bad – and why quality was never the point in the first place. Spoiler alert: It’s a giant ad, as many so-called theme parks, activations, and experiences are these days. We live in an era of flimsy disposability where nothing – whether it’s a short-form video or a branded IRL pop up – is built to last.

Then we discuss the latest platform to go all in on invasive age verification tech: Roblox, which will require use of a facial age estimation system and ID checks to access chat. On one hand, Roblox has had more than its fair share of child predation scandals at this point, so it has every incentive to at least perform comprehensiveness here. On the other, Roblox’s real problems run much deeper, and a suite of data-hungry surveillance tools won’t solve them.

Finally, Kat shares a wild story about the time someone commissioned her, then an ASMRtist, to make a video in which she turned them into a puppet.

Credits

- Hosts: Chris Person, Gita Jackson, and Riley MacLeod

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

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About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

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