Lawyers find grooming claims against YouTube co-host baseless

Lawyers hired by MrBeast to investigate claims that his former co-host groomed a teenager have concluded that the allegations were “without basis”, the star YouTuber has said.

Ava Kris Tyson stopped working with MrBeast in July after other YouTubers accused her of sending inappropriate messages to a minor, reportedly then 13, when she was 20.

At the time, Tyson apologised for her “past actions”, but said her behaviour never “extended beyond bad edgy jokes” and denied ever grooming anyone.

The alleged victim – who was named online – also defended her, saying the claims were “massive lies” and that they had never been “exploited or taken advantage of”.

MrBeast, 26, real name Jimmy Donaldson, hosts the largest channel on YouTube, with 325m subscribers, and is known for making videos of stunts, challenges and acts of philanthropy.

Tyson, 28, who last year came out as transgender, has appeared regularly on the channel since it was launched in 2012.

After the initial claims in July, MrBeast said he was “disgusted” by the “serious allegations of Ava Tyson’s behaviour online” and “opposed to such unacceptable acts”.

On Friday, he shared a letter on X from Quinn Emanuel Urqhart & Sullivan LLP, the law firm he hired to conduct an investigation into the claims.

The letter said the firm had conducted 39 interviews with current and former employees of MrBeast’s company and reviewed over 4.5m documents collected from mobile phones, e-mails, and a variety of messaging platforms.

“Allegations of sexual misconduct… between company employees and minors are without basis. The allegations were soundly rejected, including by alleged victims,” it said.

It added that allegations the company had knowingly employed “individuals with proclivities or histories towards illegal… conduct” were “similarly without basis”.

The letter said some “isolated instances of workplace harassment and misconduct were identified” and that, once informed about them, the company had taken “swift and appropriate actions”.

Following the publication of the letter, the alleged victim of Tyson’s behaviour said again that the claims were “completely false”.

“People used my name to make very serious allegations and claims without ever speaking to me,” they said.

“It was incredibly difficult having my name thrown around in a public forum without being given the opportunity to share the truth.

“The private investigators reviewed all my [direct messages] and interactions with Kris.

“I was not groomed. These were false allegations made up by other people with my name thrown in them.”

Responding to the initial allegations in July, Tyson apologised for her “unacceptable social media posts, past actions, and to those who may feel betrayed by how I used to act online”, but added: “I never groomed anyone”.

“To lump these two factors together to create a narrative that my behavior extended beyond bad edgy jokes is disgusting and did not happen,” she said.

“I have learned that my old humor is not acceptable. I cannot change who I was, but I can continue to work on myself.”