Former employees have described YouTube channel MrBeast as a “youth cult” run by bad managers who promote a toxic work culture as it also faces two lawsuits from a former producer and contestants.
The popular online account has 331 million subscribers and is run by millionaire content creator Jimmy Donaldson and his team.
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She created unique viral videos and also ran the “Beast Games” in which participants competed for $5 million.
The US Sun can reveal there are a large number of negative reviews for the company on glassdoor.com, a popular website where current and former employees can comment on their experiences anonymously.
Many claim to have worked long hours without any recognition, and accuse the company of having an unhealthy work environment, unsympathetic management, and a bad HR department.
One previous reviewer described the team in July 2024 as a “fanatical youth cult”, claiming that they “squeeze every last drop of juice out of you”.
Another provided a list of alleged negatives, writing in August this year that they had dealt with poor communication from managers.
They claimed that the head of human resources is Donaldson's mother, Susan Parisher, and that the company does not “protect its employees at all” who are allegedly often forced to work long days without breaks.
One review from 2024 also complained about “intensive hours/workload” and accused the company of sexism.
However, another former worker claimed that “intensive workloads, unsympathetic upper management, terrible HR management, lack of protection of private employee information, promotion of an unhealthy work-life balance, and cult-like atmosphere foster complete loyalty to the company.”
In a detailed review from September 2023, someone echoed the same issues, writing, “HR is terrible. This place feels like a startup but more amateurish. Communication is terrible. The entire company uses Discord instead of real HR messaging apps like Slack.” .
“Cult-like atmosphere”
“If you're hired part-time or on contract, be prepared to be let go. They're experimenting.
“On orientation day, they presented a Word document with 3 sentences on it, not even the MrBeast logo. Just very amateurish.
“You would think it would be better but it's not. They know how to make great videos but they don't run an organization. Someone helps this place.”
“They're also running out of ideas while Mr. Beast is doing nothing. They're also giving minimum wage for a lot of jobs.”
When asked on the website for their advice to management, they said: “Get some real corporate people to organize this disaster. Stay out of Greenville. No one wants to live in that hole. You'll find better talent in bigger places.” “cities.”
In a section about the pros of working at the company, they only claimed, “The name. The content. That's it. More cons of this simple startup.”
There are 37 reviews on MrBeast's website, many of which only list real professionals as having paid travel and “free stuff” while working on the YouTube channel.
The US Sun reached out to the company for comment but did not receive a response.
MrBeast's production company and Amazon Studios were hit with a civil complaint in September from five unnamed contestants who participated in the reality show “Beast Games.”
They claim they were subjected to “chronic abuse,” sexual harassment, and more.
“many hospitals”
Amazon Studios and MrBeast declined to comment and have not yet responded to the lawsuit.
A hearing on the motion to close the amended complaint is first scheduled for late 2025.
Beast Games' lawsuit went so far as to claim that people were injured during the challenge, which reportedly had a budget of $100 million.
The complaint also cites a New York Times investigation, after the newspaper reported that “more than a dozen people who participated in the first installment of the ‘Beast Games’ said they
They did not receive adequate food or medical care and some competitors suffered injuries due to the physical challenges.
The news report also claimed that some competitors left the competition arena on stretchers, while some vomited and appeared to lose consciousness. They claimed there were “several hospitalizations.”
“Unfortunately, the matter was complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, severe weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues,” a MrBeast spokesperson told The Times.
They added that a formal review had been conducted and that they had “taken steps to ensure that we learn from this experience.”
MrBeast is also being sued in a separate suit by a former producer who claims he was not paid overtime after working up to 75 hours a week.
The company has not yet commented on or responded to the lawsuit.
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