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00:00MrBeast, who is the most popular YouTuber in the world as of July 2024, has been rocked by a series of scandals and allegations involving himself, his long-term collaborators and parts of his media empire.
00:15MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, is best known for his fast-paced videos which feature giveaways and challenges.
00:23He's also done a video on paying for cataract surgery to cure blindness of people who couldn't afford the surgery.
00:30And he's also given away things such as houses and cars and even a private island.
00:37He is also known for his range of MrBeast burgers which have popped up in the last few years, his feastable snacks including chocolate bars that have arrived in the UK over the last 12 months or so.
00:49While his popularity has grown, unfortunately for the first time he's facing a real backlash.
00:55The trouble started in July 2024, not long after MrBeast had become the most subscribed channel on YouTube, overtaking India's T-Series.
01:05It started with his long-time collaborator and childhood friend Ava Tyson, who was accused of making inappropriate contact with a minor.
01:13Tyson was accused of contacting the child, who was then 13, when she was 20.
01:21And after initially batting back the allegations, the alleged victim, upon reflection, claimed that they may have been groomed.
01:32MrBeast issued a statement announcing that Ava Tyson would no longer be producing videos with the channel and that he'd hired a white shoe law firm to investigate the claims.
01:43The outcome of that investigation is yet to be made public at least.
01:49And then, about 24 hours after the allegations against Ava Tyson were made public, an old clip of MrBeast from 2017, so 7 years ago when he would have been about 18 or 19, resurfaced online.
02:04And in it, he could be seen using racial slurs and homophobic slurs.
02:09In a statement issued on behalf of MrBeast, he admitted that he had made inappropriate comments in the past and blamed it on bad jokes.
02:17A short time later, in early August 2024, the New York Times published a bombshell report on MrBeast's upcoming reality show, Beast Games.
02:26It was announced in March of this year, and it is currently filming, or at least has been filming recently.
02:32And contestants who took part in the early stages of the filming this summer, under condition of anonymity, spoke out about the conditions that they'd experienced and witnessed.
02:43It included seeing people pass out, people leaving on medical stretches, people throwing up, a lack of water, a lack of food.
02:52MrBeast and his company blamed this on the CrowdStrike crisis that happened in July, where computers were taken down by an update from CrowdStrike.
03:04It caused chaos across the world, including in airports and travel disruption and lots and lots and lots and lots of chaos.
03:12MrBeast blamed partly the conditions on that.
03:16However, a short time after that bombshell report from the New York Times, the Associated Press got their hands on a bombshell memo from MrBeast to his Team Beast employees,
03:27in which he'd ordered a full review of the internal conduct inside the company, where he also revealed the law firm that would be investigating the claims against Ava Tyson,
03:38and promised improvements as a leader. He also announced hiring of certain HR positions, and he would be taking steps to remedy the situations that have caused him to be a bit embattled this summer.
03:54It remains to be seen whether this summer of backlash will harm MrBeast or if he will continue to grow in popularity,
04:01and if it will all be forgotten by the time Beast Games arrives on Prime Video at a date as yet unannounced.