YouTuber PewDiePie donates $100,000 to Lebanon Red Cross for Beirut blast victims

Popular YouTuber PewDiePie has donated over $100,000 dollars to Lebanon's Red Crescent to help aid the organisation in the aftermath of the deadly blast that shook the country's capital on Tuesday.

The gamer and comedian, who has over 106 million subscribers on YouTube, announced the donation in a video titled "I Got Cancelled Again."

In the video, the Swedish YouTuber speaks about how his name recently trended on Twitter after his spotify playlist was leaked online. After joking about the leak and reacting to tweets from fans, PewDiePie turned his attention to the more serious issue of the blast in Beirut, which trended on social media at the same time that he did.

"I was planning for this month to donate to the Blue Ocean Foundation, and we gathered over 100,000 - so it's a massive donation with a massive difference - but seeing everything that happnened in Lebanon, I think we should change it," he said.

"This month will go to Red Cross Lebanon, the 100,000 will go to them, and next month we'll do Blue Ocean Foundation, because what's happening in Lebanon is way more urgent right now," he added, saying that he had already consulted members of his live stream who had donated towards the fund.

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The YouTuber also urged his supporters to donate to the Lebanese Red Cross themselves and captioned the video, "Please consider donating to Lebanese Red Cross," with a link for donating to the charity.

Less than 24 hours after posting the video, it garnered close to four million views on YouTube.

The explosion in Beirut's port area killed at least 157 people and wounded 5,000 others, wreaking damage across the coastal city.

The death toll is expected to climb higher as search and rescue teams continue efforts to locate dozens of missing people.

Officials said the blast was triggered by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate - an odorless crystalline substance commonly used as a fertiliser that has caused numerous industrial explosions around the world - which has been stored in a port warehouse for over six years.

The Lebanese Red Cross, which is the main provider of ambulances in Lebanon, is currently at the forefront of humanitarian efforts in Beirut.

The group has filled a key void in a country which observers say has suffered from decades of mismanagement and corruption.

"In fact, right now, it is the volunteer-based Lebanese Red Cross leading the response to the port blast, alongside underpaid and understaffed civil defense crews, many of whom died in the incident," says Karim Traboulsi, Managing Editor of The New Arab.

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