Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? It's back, but some in the ALS community aren't happy

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 2:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 36 minutes ago

In truthful galore ways, 2014 was a simpler time.

We were inactive six years retired from the pandemic. The U.S. had its archetypal Black president. Gen Z hadn't yet started influencing our fashion, truthful we were inactive rocking skinny jeans and ankle socks. And Gen Alpha hadn't yet been unleashed connected the skincare conception astatine Sephora because, well, astir of them hadn't been born. 

But adjacent in a pre-TikTok world, we inactive managed to articulation forces, and movie ourselves dumping buckets of crystal h2o connected our heads for a bully cause.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, arsenic it was called, was a planetary improvement successful the summertime of 2014. More than 17 cardinal radical astir the satellite dumped crystal h2o connected their heads and donated wealth to foundations supporting ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), according to the ALS Association successful the U.S.

Celebrities, politicians and athletes each participated and challenged each other, including Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift and erstwhile U.S. president George W. Bush. (Actor Leonardo DiCaprio challenged then-prime curate Stephen Harper, who declined, but did marque a donation.)

WATCH | Former U.S. president Bush doused successful crystal bucket challenge: 

In Canada alone, more than $17.2 cardinal was raised betwixt Aug. 6 and Dec. 31 of that year, according to the ALS Society of Canada, and much than $220 cardinal US was raised globally.

And now, acknowledgment to TikTok, along with with the assistance of influencers, the Ice Bucket Challenge is backmost aft 11 years. But this time, it's raising funds and consciousness for younker intelligence health. As of Friday morning, conscionable implicit $341,000 US had been raised successful the caller "Speak Your Mind" crystal bucket challenge, which raises funds for the U.S. non-profit Active Minds.

Former NFL players Peyton Manning and Eli Manning person already taken part, and truthful has Today big Jenna Bush Hager. Some of TikTok's astir popular influencers person done it, including James Charles, MrBeast and Hayley Baylee. There are much than 116,000 videos tagged "ice bucket challenge" connected TikTok truthful far.

For some, seeing the crystal bucket videos successful their feeds again whitethorn bring astir a consciousness of nostalgia. But wrong the ALS community, wherever there's inactive nary cure, the situation resurfacing for a caller origin has been much divisive.

"Watching radical bargain the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for a antithetic origin erstwhile ALS inactive doesn't person a cure and is 100 per cent fatal, travel on," wrote Brooke Eby, an ALS advocator with astir 500,000 followers betwixt TikTok and Instagram, successful a video she posted this week.

"There is simply a batch of different intelligence wellness consciousness connected the internet, but this was the lone happening that brought attraction to ALS," said different influencer successful a TikTok video.

"I admit their spreading consciousness for intelligence wellness but wholly cringey successful however they appropriated this from ALS with zero accountability. Not chill astatine all," wrote a commenter connected an Instagram station by the ALS Association.

An aged challenge, a caller instrumentality connected it

ALS is often referred to arsenic Lou Gehrig's disease, named aft the precocious New York Yankees ballplayer. It's a progressive illness that affects the brain's nervus cells and the spinal cord, dilatory paralyzing people. Eventually, radical with ALS suffer the quality to walk, talk, eat, swallow and breathe.

There are fewer effectual treatments and nary cure, notes the ALS Society of Canada connected its website. About 4,000 Canadians are presently surviving with ALS, according to the organization, and 80 per cent of radical surviving with the illness dice wrong about two to 3 years from diagnosis.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge started successful 2014, erstwhile nonrecreational golfer Chris Kennedy dumped crystal h2o connected his caput to enactment a household subordinate who had precocious been diagnosed, according to the ALS Association. Momentum started to physique arsenic Kennedy challenged people, who challenged much people, and past it took disconnected erstwhile Pat Quinn and assemblage shot subordinate Peter Frates took part.

The situation was an important infinitesimal for gathering consciousness astir the illness and fundraising for radical affected by ALS, Tammy Moore, CEO of the ALS Society of Canada, told CBC News successful a statement. And portion determination person been advancements successful the prime of attraction successful the past decade, Moore emphasized that there's inactive nary cure.

"While the outpouring of enactment successful 2014 was significant, it was a tiny fraction of what is indispensable to code the realities of an incredibly analyzable illness that tin instrumentality lives wrong 2 to 5 years of diagnosis, and emotionally and financially devastates families," Moore said.

"With that successful mind, we anticipation radical volition retrieve the archetypal ALS Ice Bucket Challenge run and enactment some important causes."

Mental wellness situation started by students

The caller situation was started by students astatine the University of South Carolina to dispersed consciousness astir intelligence wellness and termination prevention. Wade Jefferson, laminitis of the university's MIND nine (Mental Illness Needs Discussion), said successful a statement last week they were inspired by however almighty the archetypal crystal bucket situation was.

LISTEN | The crystal bucket situation is back: 

"We wanted to bring that aforesaid vigor to intelligence health. Watching it instrumentality disconnected — seeing radical we admire, like Peyton Manning, articulation successful — has been surreal. We're proud, grateful, and conscionable excited to spot however acold it's gone and proceed to go," helium said.

The ALS Association successful the U.S. wrote successful a connection past week that it was "thrilled" to spot the tone of the situation unrecorded connected successful caller forms of activism, but added that ALS is inactive fatal and "we urgently request a cure."

In a follow-up station to her archetypal viral video astir the challenge, Brooke Eby — who has ALS — said she's not debating that 1 origin is much important than the other. But she says that it's important to retrieve however the situation started — with a fistful of radical who had ALS, each of whom person since died.

"I emotion seeing colleges and students taking connected a cause," Eby said a TikTok video posted Thursday.

"But I deliberation to bash the nonstop aforesaid benignant of fundraiser, without immoderate notation of ALS, wherever radical similar maine who are actively dying from this disease, with nary hope, the interest is that by rebranding the crystal bucket situation astir immoderate different origin volition erase the 1 clip that ALS was a household name."