The MrBeast Scandal: Innocent until proven guilty
MrBeast has faced controversy along the lines of racist remarks, mistreatment of contestants, and sexual misconduct.
Jimmy Donaldson, famously known as MrBeast, is a YouTuber with 329 million subscribers. He is known for his large giveaways and challenges. His most popular challenge is a recreation of the Netflix series “Squid Games” in real life.
However, Donaldson has received a lot of backlash starting in July of 2024. It all started with one of his colleagues and collaborators, Ava Kris Tyson, being accused of sharing inappropriate remarks towards minors. A case of sexual assault was also accused by a former MrBeast employee. Tyson denied all allegations but apologized for any harmful actions. She ultimately left YouTube and started disassociating with MrBeast in late July.
During that time, old videos of MrBeast were resurfaced. This video was circulated by Rosanna Pansino, another popular YouTuber. He made racially insensitive comments while also saying homophobic slurs in the video. Another old video of him resurfaced making inappropriate comments towards the rapper Bhad Bhabie, who was 14 at the time.
On the other hand, back in March, MrBeast struck a deal with Amazon MGM Studios to produce a competitive show with a grand prize of $5 million called Beast Games. Production began in July in Las Vegas but would eventually move to Toronto after 1,000 contestants were chosen. Production ended in September.
September was a big month for MrBeast after a lawsuit was filed against the MrBeast company, MrBeast himself, and Amazon MGM Studios. The people who filed the lawsuit were five contestants. The lawsuit consists of accusations of failure to pay minimum wages, failure to pay overtime, sexual harassment, failure to prevent harassment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, failure to provide uninterrupted meal breaks, failure to provide uninterrupted rest breaks, failure to pay wages promptly upon termination, unfair business practices, false advertising, and declaratory relief. As of Nov. 13, the court case is still in review. Since then, MrBeast has fired some employees during an investigation into his workplace.
MrBeast has personally collaborated with a UVU student before. Information on that collaboration and YouTuber can be found on the UVU Review’s website.
Kenna Seegmiller is a sophomore studying both Theatre and English education. This is her second year on the Review. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her roommates and playing video games.