New York — According to a confidential memo obtained by The Associated Press, MrBeast has ordered a full assessment of the internal culture at his YouTube empire and an investigation into „allegations of inappropriate behavior by people within the company.”
Addressed to „Team Beast” employees, Wednesday’s message outlines infrastructure changes, including plans to hire a chief human resources officer and the need for company-wide sensitivity training. The expanded investigation signals that the problems at YouTube’s biggest channel may go deeper than the „serious allegations” facing the longtime collaborator. Endorsed by MrBeast last month, His real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
„As your leader, I take responsibility and am committed to developing and improving my leadership style,” Donaldson wrote. „I recognize that I need to create a culture that makes all of our employees feel safe and allows them to do their best work.”
A spokesman for Mr Beast confirmed the memo had been sent to staff. The memo comes after a tumultuous few weeks for the YouTuber, long admired by his young fans for his free-wheeling videos of outrageous giveaways and daring acts of charity.
Donaldson Admitted to using „inappropriate language”. Clips of homophobic and racist comments circulated online last week. Early production of his ambitious game show — featuring 1,000 contestants and a $5 million grand prize — Recently brought safety complaints from competitors who described a chaotic collection without regular access to food, water and medicine.
The memo reveals that Donaldson has hired the white-shoe law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart. & Sullivan investigated her friend and co-creator Ava Tyson — who left the company in July after online allegations that she shared sexually inappropriate messages with minors.
Meanwhile, Donaldson told employees that the company, which he founded in 2016 when he was 18, was making a number of changes „to foster a better internal culture as we continue to grow.”
The memo also outlines plans to hire a chief financial officer and general counsel. The company will offer an „anonymous reporting mechanism” and provide mandatory training for all employees on „safety, sexual harassment, LGBTQ, diversity, sensitivity training and workplace conduct.”
Donaldson has recently expanded his influence beyond his main YouTube channel’s record 309 million subscribers.
Other YouTube channels “Beast Reacts” and “Beast Philanthropy” have 34 million and 25 million subscribers respectively. His Mr. Beast Burger is widely banned, but Walmart still carries his popular Feastables chocolate bars. Amazon Prime Video is set to launch „Beast Games,” which it claims is a „huge reality competition.”
But managing such a sprawling enterprise can be difficult, said Jake Bjorseth, founder of Trndsttrs, a Gen Z advertising agency. He finds this more complicated in MrBeast’s case, as „an individual brand” and „his image is now more closely associated with revenue”.
As the internal culture necessarily becomes more „corporate,” Bjorseth said, Donaldson must find a way to „de-risk everything” while maintaining the „magic” for his followers.
MrBeast’s reaction to heated controversies and subsequent content changes could end up alienating parts of his wider audience, Bjorseth added.
„Are we going to see a consumer backlash at the product level? Because that’s where some of the most serious impacts could be,” he said.
„What will they do with the next release of the YouTube video?” He continued. “Should the answer come out of this be a video or will it be business as usual? They are in a very tricky spot.
A Mr. Beast spokesperson told the AP that the Aug. 3 video, titled “Survive 100 Days in a Nuclear Bunker, Win $500,000,” was the second-fastest video to reach 100 million views in the channel’s history.
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Associated Press coverage of charities and nonprofits is supported by AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AB is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s charity coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/Philanthropy.
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