Mr. Beast has had a terrible summer, and things don’t seem to be getting better as competitors from the upcoming Beast Games show have threatened to file a class action lawsuit against the popular YouTuber and Amazon.
In the extensively redacted lawsuit, the unnamed “Contestant 5” says, “I expected to be challenged, but I didn’t think I would be treated like nothing — less than nothing.”
The September 16 filing in LA Superior Court claims that MrBeast and the Jeff Bezos-created streamer “subjected the Contestants to unreasonable, unsafe, and unlawful employment conditions,” which may result in millions of dollars in damages if certified. The 54-page jury trial seeking document argues that due to allegations of sexual harassment, inability to prevent harassment, deceptive advertising, and failure to pay overtime or the minimum wage, “several contestants…were hospitalised.”
The claim that the ostensibly $100 million budgeted Beast Games production broke the law to obtain Nevada tax credits is arguably the most damaging to Mr. Beast and Amazon’s business. “Plaintiffs and the Proposed Class to enter into illegal contracts and providing false information to the State of Nevada to obtain unearned tax credits,” according to the petition, was offered by Beast Games.
The far from impoverished MrBeast and Amazon were able to obtain roughly $2,252,523 in incentives from the Silver State by allegedly misclassifying competitors like the five original plaintiffs as Nevada citizens and others.
Beast Games boasted that it was going to “become the biggest reality competition series ever with 1000 contestants competing for a $5 million dollar cash prize” back in the spring, based on Mr. Beast’s already popular YouTube show. Attracting about one thousand participants, MrBeast is the host and executive producer of Beast Games. The program is scheduled to launch exclusively on Prime Video later this year or early in 2025 both domestically and internationally.
With just 316 million YouTube subscribers and Prime Video’s enormous audience, it seems like the still-in-production Beast Games is sure to be a streaming hit.
Yes, but you would think Mr. Beast and Amazon would want to present the best possible image in light of these claims given the excitement around the announcement of the $5 million prize Beast Games competition show back in March. Furthermore, one would assume that Mr. Beast and Amazon would have prepared a response given that the majority of the claims alleged in the lawsuit were made public in a significant New York Times piece last month.
When Deadline asked Amazon or the influencer Jimmy Donaldson’s reps for comment on the allegation, neither company answered. This post will be updated if and when they appear.
Rather, the five anonymous contestants who filed the action describe “suffering physical and mental complications while being subjected to chronic mistreatment, degradation and, for the female contestants, hostile working conditions,” evoking the NYT article on alleged mistreatment on the Beast Games set in Las Vegas.
Defendants exercised entire control over the method, means, and timing of the work performed by the Contestants, by regulating almost every aspect of their lives during the creation of the show, according to the complaint, thus none of this was accidental. The so-called “How to Succeed in MrBeast Productions” booklet, which promoted the lies “empower the boys” and “let them be idiots,” contributed to this control. Nevertheless, the documents state unequivocally that the “management of the defendants, up to and including senior management and ownership,” were fully aware of the alleged “violence and sexual harassment” on Beast Games and took no action.
The complaint states, “Defendants’ previous actions created such a horrible atmosphere during Beast Games that Defendants had to volunteer to pay for the Contestants’ therapy—it was that bad.”
It appears that Mr. Beast’s quickly growing business has moved on from his pledges made last month to “hire a chief human resources officer and require company-wide sensitivity training.”
The accusations in this possible class action lawsuit against Beast Games also don’t quite add up with Donaldson’s hiring of the upscale legal firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to look into the case of former co-host Ava Tyson, who quit Mr. Beast in July following the revelation of illicit sexual communications exchanged with kids. In addition to that, this summer saw the NYT uncover Beast Games and MrBeast, who came under criticism for derogatory remarks they had made in old recordings.