YouTuber MrBeast and Amazon Sued for Exploitation and Sexual Harassment by Beast Games Participants – Culture

YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and Amazon were named in a lawsuit accusing contestants on their $5 million jackpot game show of Beast Gameswere exploited.

Contestants said they were treated unfairly and sexually harassed while participating in what is known as the world’s largest live game show. According to Variety, Beast Games is a reality competition hosted by Amazon’s Prime Video, in which more than 1,000 contestants compete for a single cash prize of $5 million.

On Monday, court documents filed in Los Angeles allege participants were not given proper pay, meal breaks or adequate rest time.

The plaintiffs were named only as participants one through five in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Amazon Alternative LLC and MrBeast’s production company, MRB2024 LLC.

The lawsuit requested a class action lawsuit on behalf of all parties involved Beast Games participants, Variety reported. The lawsuit sought payment from Amazon and MrBeast’s company for alleged unpaid wages and expenses, as well as unspecified damages.

“Defendants’ production companies and Amazon shamelessly abused the labor of… people who served as candidates for the upcoming $100 million MrBeast-Amazon production.Beast Games“which Amazon promotes as the world’s largest live game show with the largest single prize in television history,” the lawsuit said.

The show’s entertainment value “stems directly from the physical and emotional labor of the contestants as they compete under stressful conditions for life-changing prize money, with one person ultimately winning an alleged $5 million,” the lawsuit states.

“Although the contestants knew when they signed the contract at the start of production that they would be facing a potentially long and challenging competition, they claim they got much more than they bargained for,” said attorneys for the anonymous Beast Games candidates said in a statement about the lawsuit, according to the publication.

“Several candidates ended up in hospital, while others reported suffering physical and mental complications from the chronic abuse, humiliation and, for the female candidates, hostile working conditions.”

According to the lawsuit, Beast Games Participants were deprived of medical care, food, sleep and “the necessities of basic hygiene,” and the producers “created working conditions that jeopardized the safety of workers.” Portions of the lawsuit were redacted, including some details regarding the sexual harassment allegations, Variety reported.

“Plaintiffs brought this action using pseudonyms and employing conservative redactions that limit public access in a good faith effort to comply with Defendants’ overbroad confidentiality provisions (which Plaintiffs allege are unenforceable) and to protect Plaintiffs’ confidentiality and privacy interests, who seek to avoid embarrassment,” the lawsuit states.

One of the female plaintiffs in the complaint, identified only as Contestant Five, said in a statement, “I wanted to participate because I was a fan of MrBeast and his videos made me laugh during the COVID-19 pandemic. I expected to be challenged, but I didn’t expect to be treated as nothing – less than nothing. And as one of the women, I can say it absolutely felt like a hostile environment for us. We honestly couldn’t have been respected less – as people, let alone employees – if they tried.”

There was no immediate response from MrBeast to a AFP investigation. Amazon declined to comment.

A release date for the game show competition has not yet been announced. However, Amazon called it “the world’s largest live game show” with the “largest single prize in television and streaming history.”

MrBeast is one of the most successful YouTubers of all time, with over 300 million subscribers, the most subscribers of any individual creator. His output includes contests and challenges, sometimes with very valuable prizes for participants.

In addition to his extensive online presence, he also founded philanthropic ventures.

In 2023, TIME magazine named him one of the world’s most influential people. That same year, Forbes estimates his net worth at around $54 million.

Additional input from AFP