It’s a bad time to be MrBeast. A few weeks ago, YouTube’s highest paid content creator, real name Jimmy Donaldson, was caught up in scandal after one of his longtime collaborators, Ava Kris Tyson, was accused of sending explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl when she was 20.
Now, a former employee’s claimed MrBeast “knowingly” hired a registered sex offender to work on his $54-million-a-year channel. The person wore a mask during videos to conceal their identity and was apparently called “Delaware” by staff, according to the New York Post.
As the revelations circulated online, another former employee at the channel, known as Jake the Viking, came forward to identify Delaware as his brother-in-law. He added that Delaware was placed on the sex offender’s register in 2010, and claims that the charges against him are due to be dropped a little later this year after he accepted a plea deal with his accuser.
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In an internal memo sent to MrBeast employees on Aug. 7—forwarded to The Daily Beast by a spokesperson for the YouTuber—Donaldson pledged to make staff and leadership changes, including hiring a chief human resources officer, chief financial officers and general counsel, “along with other roles to add capacity and competencies to foster a better internal culture as we continue to grow,” he wrote.
In addition to hiring New York-based firm Quinn Emanual to investigation the allegations against Tyson, Donaldson said he asked the firm to expand the investigation to the company’s culture.
Although the investigation has not been completed, Donaldson said he has “enough preliminary information” to implement several systemic changes, such as “mandatory” trainings on safety, sexual harassment, LGBTQ, diversity, sensitivity training, and workplace for all employees.
Additionally, Donaldson shared that the company plans to hold listening sessions, an external review of its policies and set up an anonymous incident reporting system.
“I am fully committed to seeing the investigative process through and acting on the recommendations,” wrote Donaldson. “We will circle back and share our learnings and any necessary changes.”
Donaldson’s upcoming reality show, Beast Games, has also faced criticism. Featuring a reported 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million cash price, participants alleged that they have suffered injuries, and have had limited access to food, water and medication during the first round of the production in Las Vegas. A spokesperson for Donaldson said that they are reviewing feedback ahead of the next phase of the competition’s production in Toronto.
Read it at New York Post
