Anyone at all familiar with the current online content landscape is likely aware of MrBeast. Boasting the highest subscriber count on YouTube as of now, his media empire has ballooned to new heights. But now, this YouTube juggernaut faces massive wave after massive wave of controversy.
Because of the controversies, MrBeast’s operations are now further scrutinized and called into question. One such operation is the upcoming Beast Games series, planned for a release onto Amazon Prime. A reality game/challenge show partially inspired by Netflix’s thriller-hit of 2021, Squid Game.
People are now coming out against the project’s allegedly poor safety standards and contestant treatment. It’s almost morbidly fitting given the upcoming show’s rather blatant inspirations.
So what happened? Wasn’t MrBeast YouTube’s new golden child less than a year ago? Why are whistleblowers coming out now in particular? To answer that, we begin with a more general question…
How Did We Get Here?
MrBeast became viral within the past decade by doing ridiculous challenges. These included watching fellow influencer Jake Paul’s “It’s Everyday Bro” music video for ten hours straight, counting to 100,000, and more. These saw massive success when uploaded to YouTube.
Eventually as the MrBeast name gained more influence, he began hiring friends and employees to bolster the now-popular brand. After his early content, his brand had pivoted and expanded to various genres. These ranged from gameshow-like challenges, gaming, “stunt philanthropy” and more in many viral videos. This made his popularity skyrocket past most YouTube channels.
In 2024, MrBeast finally surpassed T-Series (A massive music label based in India) as the worldwide most subscribed-to YouTube channel. Unfortunately, there was little time to bask in this massive accomplishment.
Ava Tyson, an employee of the channel and one of MrBeast’s closest friends, was accused of having unsavory interactions and inappropriate conversations with numerous minors. This took place on a discord server owned by Ava, stemming from around 2016.
Both online commentators and mainstream outlets alike picked up and ran with the story. This coverage emboldened many whistleblowers to speak out against not only Ava Tyson, but also the MrBeast brand as a whole.
While many people called out Ava Tyson and MrBeast’s brand, one person went above and beyond. He ended up gaining the very thing that skyrocketed MrBeast into the public consciousness.
Virality.
A Modern David And Goliath
This brings us to arguably the largest exposé against MrBeast’s brand. On July 24th of 2024, the YouTube account DogPack404 uploaded part one of an ongoing exposé series covering allegations against MrBeast.
He speaks from some level of authority, having been a former employee working with the MrBeast brand before leaving the company. The allegations in his initial video are striking.
There were some trivial arguments such as MrBeast videos utilizing CGI and scripted dialogue for contestants to supplement storytelling. But heftier claims included blatantly rigging gameshow challenges, running potentially illegal lotteries, questionable and borderline unethical marketing of MrBeast’s chocolate brand, predatory advertising tactics, and more.
The video spans a whopping 53 minutes and is only part one of the exposé. The video has become viral, sitting close to 15 million views within just under a month. And with this video being the first ever on his channel, this kind of viewership would normally be completely unprecedented.
Numerous other videos and social media posts would arise, allowing more people to share their stories. On top of this, the YouTube commentary sphere would ensure that this massive situation would not escape the public eye for a long while.
But the MrBeast brand would not take this bad publicity lying down. In fact, they would go as far as to arguably try and cover it up. One such attempt to silence detractors was a cease and desist sent to DogPack404.
One would normally expect the threat of legal action to deter whistleblowers. But instead, it backfired entirely.
To Back Down Or Double Down?
Instead of removing the video as demanded, DogPack404 refused to back down. Part two of the exposé would be released, a mere 6 days after DogPack404 shared the cease and desist. In this part, Jake Weddle, a former writer and challenge contestant for MrBeast would be interviewed.
He would recount numerous bad experiences and allegations involving his work at the company, and participation in a horribly run challenge. If true, this challenge was more akin to actual torture than a fun gameshow event, involving prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and running a marathon on a treadmill while suffering from severe exhaustion.
The video of this challenge would never see the light of day. Instead it was re-recorded with MrBeast participating instead and a much shorter timeframe.
But there is even more.
According to Jake Weddle’s account alongside other rumors circulating amongst MrBeast employees, one employee was a sex offender. “Delaware” was apparently his nickname used by people at the company, even including MrBeast himself.
These allegations of MrBeast knowingly hiring a registered sex offender, were corroborated yet also challenged somewhat by another former employee known by MrBeast viewers as Jake The Viking.
Regardless of if the allegations were true, “Delaware” pled guilty to sexual assault of a minor and was on the registry when hired by MrBeast. As such, Jake’s response was quite controversial on X. Many people in the replies disagreed with his praising of the controversial former employee in question.
And it’s still far from over. Not only have many YouTube personalities covered this allegation as well, but DogPack404 has gone onto be interviewed by several content creators. He also plans on releasing a third part to this massive exposé.
But will any of this backlash impact MrBeast’s operations in the long-run?
Let The Beast Games Begin
One indicator of whether or not whistleblowers could have an impact on the MrBeast brand, could be the upcoming Beast Games series. The series is being created by MrBeast in collaboration with Amazon, slated for an Amazon Prime release.
The information regarding this series was shared by Amazon’s press on March 18th.
But already with the filming of the first preliminary challenges for the series, there have been numerous safety concerns. These were alongside claims of mistreatment towards contestants by both staff and fellow competitors alike.
These allegations ranged from somewhat mundane like some contracted staff being rude to contestants when speaking to them to deeply problematic, such as when required medications such as insulin were extremely late in delivery to diabetic contestants who needed it to function.
One leading whistleblower regarding the allegations around Beast Games is Rosanna Pansino. Less than a year ago, she had spoken out on what she felt was a rigged and unfair MrBeast challenge she had participated in. At the time, she received massive backlash from MrBeast’s fanbase. General online sentiment also turned against her, as many people perceived and promptly dismissed Rosanna as a clout-chasing sore-loser.
But now, despite continuous and unrelenting backlash against her, Rosanna has returned in full-force, remaining steadfast in reaching out to others involved and sharing their accounts of what has allegedly been happening.
There are likely lots of similar experiences from other contestants, and while many speak out, many also remain quiet.
MrBeast seems to be following the adage of “the show must go on” and has not made any official statements yet, outside of condemning Ava Tyson’s explicit conversations with minors when this all first started.
With how massive MrBeast and Amazon both are, the Beast Games may be relatively unaffected by public outcry and allegations. But this still leaves one question.
Will Anything Big Come From This?
The answer remains to be seen. But I personally think it’s a yes and no.
Yes, MrBeast’s reputation continues to plummet in the online ecosystem, as his transformation from viral video sensation to corporate overlord has been seen in real-time.
Some caught onto this quicker than others and now appear to be somewhat vindicated, as seen when fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye attempted (and according to some at the time, failed) to articulate his own issues with MrBeast’s content and YouTube methodology.
But now, the cat’s out of the bag and countless influencers are well aware of the allegations and ethical dilemmas. As such, they may be reluctant to work with or help MrBeast in the future.
But for the legions of MrBeast’s loyal fans, it seems to be a no. This controversy probably won’t amount to much. MrBeast as a brand is large enough to be relatively self-sufficient regardless of cancellation attempts, disassociation by fellow creators, or viral exposés like DogPack404’s.
A majority of MrBeast’s fans are impressionable children who may not care about the wrongdoings of the brand, let alone be aware of such heavy and dark topics involving their favorite creators.
In the grand scheme of things, some may argue that MrBeast has grown “too big to fail” and this may hold some water. Many of his fans don’t follow online drama or call-outs at all, and those that do, may remain loyal to his content regardless.
But if you truly sympathize with the numerous whistleblowers coming out, the most you can do, is share the word. It may not change minds and feelings, but it will spread awareness.
