MrBeast Was Arrested in 2018 for Drag Racing When He Was Just 19 Years Old
A TikTok video is circulating online that seems to suggest he was taken into custody.
Published Oct. 31 2024, 2:08 p.m. ET
As one of the most successful YouTube personalities of all time, MrBeast has been famous for being relatively reserved with the insane sums of money he must be bringing in. Of course, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has been moving toward this success for a decade, and he wasn't always so smart about his money.
In fact, in 2018, MrBeast was arrested, although that arrest was only tangentially related to all the money he was already bringing in via YouTube. As more people learn that Jimmy was once taken into custody, they also wonder exactly why he was arrested. Here's what we know.
Why did MrBeast get arrested?
MrBeast was arrested in 2018 for drag racing. A mugshot occasionally circulates online that verifies this claim, but it's not the reason that many believe he was arrested.
A video is still circulating on TikTok that seems to show MrBeastgetting arrested. This video is actually from a 2023 prank video, and is not actual footage of the popular influencer being arrested.
According to a post on Reddit, though, the 2018 arrest was very real. Jimmy was arrested at that time for driving a car at 122 MPH on a highway in North Carolina around 2:30 a.m. Police indicated that there were two vehicles driving at that speed, and that the vehicles appeared to be racing one another.
Jimmy was just 19 years old at the time, and he was stopped by police and taken into custody.
Fans have speculated that Jimmy was probably driving a BMW i8 at the time, as he had made a video around the same time showing off his new purchase. Redditors also claim that Jimmy financed his purchase not just through his YouTube channel, but also after liquidating many of his investments in cryptocurrencies.
Some reports suggest that MrBeast is under investigation over his affiliations with cryptocurrency.
In addition to his presence on YouTube, there has also been some indication that Jimmy is heavily invested in cryptocurrency, and recent reports suggest that he might be under investigation for some sort of insider trading.
There's nothing credible to back these reports up at the moment, though, so it seems to be based largely on speculation.
Given his incredibly high profile, MrBeast is someone who is always going to find himself subject to one rumor or another. The TikTok video that suggests he was arrested recently is false, but it does seem to be the case that he was arrested in 2018 for drag racing. Not the coolest thing to do, but thankfully, nobody was hurt.