1 day Ago By Karl Quinn
MrBeast, the self-proclaimed first YouTube billionaire, is being sued for alleged workplace abuses by five contestants on Beast Game s, the show he is making for Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video. Amazon is also listed as a defendant in the case, filed in Los Angeles this week. The suit is the latest instalment in a rapid turnaround in the fortunes of the 26-year-old, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
So recently the darling of the internet, MrBeast now finds himself being savaged by it. YouTube megastar MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, on a visit to Sydney in June to launch his Feastables products. Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage Who is MrBeast? Donaldson first emerged as a YouTuber of note in 2017 when he posted a video of himself counting to 100,000.
For reasons that future scholars of the decline of Western civilisation will no doubt speculate upon, it became a viral sensation (the video, which runs just under 24 hours, has been viewed more than 30 million times). Loading He used his fame to build a following for stunt videos in which he put himself and others to the test, in challenges inspired by such TV shows as I’m a Celebrity , Survivor and, in a video that has clocked up 652 million views in the past two years, Squid Game . Along the way, he offered prizes.
To celebrate his 26th birthday in May, for example, he gave away 26 Teslas on Instagram; to enter the competition, you simply needed to like the post and tag two friends. His following there is now more than 60 million. How rich is he? Very.
In a 2022 interview , Donaldson admitted he had done sponsorship deals for around the $3 million mark. He has also extended his reach into fast food, with a “virtual” burger brand, a chocolate brand (Feastables), and a lunch snack food brand (Lunchly)..
