A former employee of MrBeast has accused him of knowingly hiring a registered sex offender, as allegations against the YouTuber pile up.
MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, is the world’s biggest YouTuber, but in recent weeks he’s been at the centre of a variety of allegations.
Last month, MrBeast’s long-time collaborator Ava Kris Tyson stepped down after she was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a minor when she was 20. Tyson has denied the allegations, but the pair ‘mutually decided’ that she should step away from the channel to focus on ‘family and mental health’.
Around the same time, a former employee of MrBeast, named DogPack404 on YouTube, accused him of hosting ‘illegal lotteries’ and staging content.
DogPack404, has since posted a new video where he interviews Jake Weddle, another former employee of MrBeast. During the video, Weddle claims MrBeast knowingly hired a registered sex offender during his time there.
‘Well, there was a known sex offender, a registered sex offender, convicted sex offender on the registry and everything, who worked there,’ Weddle said.
According to Weddle, MrBeast knew about the person’s alleged history of doing ‘not great stuff to some underage people’ and that MrBeast ‘covered up the fact’ that he worked there by putting him in masks on videos.
Weddle claims this person, who no longer works at the company, was internally referred to as ‘Delaware’. After tweets spread trying to identify the person, Jake Franklin, another former employee of MrBeast’s, confirmed the person was his brother-in-law in a statement on Twitter.
In a tweet explaining the situation, Franklin confirmed Delaware is a registered sex offender, after taking a plea deal with the person who accused him, with the charges set to be dropped later this year.
He also said MrBeast knew of the situation when he was hired, adding: ‘He was hired before I was, and was actually the reason I got hired at MrBeast.
‘Before being hired, Delaware sat down with Jimmy and Sue [Jimmy’s Mom] and explained to them everything. So yes, Jimmy knew. But again, this incident happened in 2010, Delaware was hired in 2017/2018. Delaware was also let go from the company before I was.
‘Delaware was supposed to be a behind the scenes manager. But in a couple videos, he was asked to partake because we needed people. He was reluctant, especially in the straight jacket video because of his charges, and that’s why he wore the mask.’
He added: ‘I understand why anyone would be upset and frustrated over these allegations and I do not blame them. Hurting kids in any way is completely unacceptable. But in the case of Delaware, I firmly believe he did nothing wrong and look forward to the day these charges are dropped.’
Metro GameCentral has contacted MrBeast for comment.
Earlier this week, MrBeast ordered an assessment of his entire company to ‘foster a better internal culture’.
According to a confidential memo sent to employees of MrBeast on Wednesday, the changes to the company include hiring a chief human resources officer and general counsel, along with required company-wide sensitivity training.
The memo, obtained by Associated Press and confirmed by a spokesperson for MrBeast, also reveals the YouTuber has hired law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to investigate ‘allegations of inappropriate behaviour by people in the company’, in reference to Tyson.
‘As your leader, I take responsibility, and I am committed to continue to improve and evolve my leadership style,’ MrBeast wrote. ‘I recognise that I also need to create a culture that makes all our employees feel safe and allows them to do their best work.’
This memo comes after MrBeast was recently accused of making racist comments early in his career. In a statement, a spokesperson for the YouTuber acknowledged he had used ‘inappropriate language’ at the time, which he has ‘repeatedly apologised’ for.
The YouTuber’s upcoming Amazon show, titled Beast Games, has also been accused of mistreating contestants during filming. According to people who had signed up for the show, some contestants were taken to hospital and others were barely fed.
A representative for MrBeast disputed some of the claims, but they did acknowledge that filming in Nevada ‘was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communication issues’.
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
MORE : IShowSpeed moving to Twitch claim fans as editor responds to rumours
MORE : Twitch star sparks fury after saying streaming ‘is harder than an actual job’
MORE : Twitch fears being downsized by Amazon as it still fails to make a profit
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.
Share this with