“Mistreatment”, “shamelessly exploited”, sexual harassment… MrBeast, the most followed YouTuber in the world targeted by five complaints

L'homme aux 300 millions d'abonnés est poursuivi en justice. Capture d'écran Youtube

MrBeast, the American videographer with 300 million subscribers, and Amazon are the target of 5 complaints for “chronic mistreatment and sexual harassment” during the filming of a reality TV show.

The production company of MrBeast, the world's most popular YouTuber, is being targeted alongside Amazon by a complaint from participants in his reality TV show “Beast Games”, who claim to have been exploited during filming.

The series, which has yet to be released, is inspired by the YouTube videos that made MrBeast famous, in which he offers money to strangers on the condition that they complete daring or extreme challenges. The show brought together 1,000 participants competing to win a $5 million jackpot.

Five of them filed a complaint on Monday, September 16, in a Los Angeles court, denouncing "mistreatment": the candidates were not properly paid, did not always have meal breaks and evolved in a toxic work environment, where sexual harassment was tolerated.

“Shamelessly Exploited”

MrBeast's company and Amazon “shamelessly exploited” the participants' work, according to the complaint, recalling that the budget for the series was “$100 million”. The show's value “is a direct result of the physical and emotional work of the candidates who compete in difficult conditions”, insist the plaintiffs in this document.

This “class action” aims to compensate all the participants in the series, by paying them a salary. Such class actions rarely result in litigation in the United States and are usually settled out of court with financial settlements.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, did not immediately respond to requests from AFP. Also contacted, Amazon declined to comment. The American influencer has more than 300 million subscribers on YouTube. In 2023, Time magazine named him one of the most influential people in the world. The same year, Forbes estimated his fortune at around half a billion dollars.