NEW YORK — MrBeast has ordered a full review of the internal culture at his YouTube empire, as well as an investigation into “allegations of inappropriate behavior by people at the company,” according to a confidential memo obtained by The Associated Press.
The message sent Wednesday, addressed to “Team Beast” employees, outlines infrastructure changes, including plans to hire a Chief Human Resources Officer and require company-wide sensitivity training. The extensive investigation indicates that the problems within YouTube’s largest channel may go deeper than the “serious allegations” faced by a longtime employee, who was acknowledged last month by MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
“As your leader, I take responsibility and am committed to continuing to improve and develop my leadership style,” Donaldson wrote. “I recognize that I also need to create a culture that makes all of our employees feel safe and empowers them to do their best work.”
A spokesman for MrBeast confirmed the memo had been sent to employees but declined further comment. The memo comes after a turbulent few weeks for the YouTuber, who has long been adored by his young fans for his freewheeling videos of outrageous giveaways and daring charity drives.
Donaldson admitted last week that he had previously used “inappropriate language” after clips of past homophobic and racist comments circulated online. An early production of his ambitious game show — with a thousand contestants and a $5 million grand prize — recently drew safety complaints from contestants who described a chaotic set in which they had no regular access to food, water and medicine.
The memo shows that Donaldson hired the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to investigate his girlfriend and fellow creator Ava Tyson – who left the company in July following online allegations that she shared inappropriate sexual messages with minors.
In the meantime, Donaldson told employees that the company he founded in 2016 at the age of 18 is making several changes intended “to foster a better internal culture as we continue to grow.”
The memo outlined plans to also hire a chief financial officer and general counsel. The company will offer an “anonymous reporting mechanism” as well as mandatory training for all employees on “safety, sexual harassment, LGBTQ, diversity, sensitivity training and workplace conduct,” the memo said.
Donaldson has recently taken steps to expand his influence far beyond the record 309 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.
Other YouTube channels “Beast Reacts” and “Beast Philanthropy” have more than 34 million and 25 million subscribers, respectively. Its MrBeast Burger has been widely panned, but Walmart still has its popular Feastables chocolate bars. And Amazon Prime Video will release ‘Beast Games’ – touted as the ‘biggest reality competition’.
But managing such a large company will be difficult, says Jake Bjorseth, founder of Gen Z advertising agency Trndsttrs. He finds this especially complex in the case of MrBeast, when “an individual is the brand” and “his image is now more closely linked to sales.”
As the internal culture necessarily shifts more “corporate,” Bjorseth said, Donaldson will have to find a way to “de-risk everything” while still keeping the “magic” for his followers.
MrBeast’s response to the mounting controversies and any resulting changes in content could alienate several parts of its broad audience, Bjorseth added.
“Are we going to see consumer reactions at the product level? Because that’s where there could be serious consequences,” he said.
“What do they do with the next YouTube video release?” he continued. “Should there be a response video from this or will it be business as usual? They are in a very difficult place.”
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