Earlier this year, Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson signed a deal with Prime Video to create Beast Games, with Amazon reportedly spending $100 million to create the competition show. But even before the first episode of “Beast Games” premiered, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles accusing Mr. Beast’s production company of creating a “toxic environment” that included sexual harassment, failure to pay minimum wage and overtime wages, and unfair business practices.
There have been previous reports that Beast Games did not provide adequate food or medical care to contestants. But according to The Hollywood Reporter , the proposed class action lawsuit goes a step further, alleging that the production company forced contestants to agree to “unconscionable contracts with unlawful terms and illusory obligations,” which not only misclassified their employment status but also left the show “To avoid protections related to minimum wage and overtime pay, mandatory meal periods and workers’ compensation benefits.”
The complaint alleges that the production company created a “culture of misogyny and sexism” that resulted in a “hostile and toxic work environment” for female contestants, who suffered “severe embarrassment and unfair disadvantage.” The lawsuit cites the MrBeast Production employee handbook as a top-down example of the sexism involved: “It’s OK for boys to be childish… If talent wants to draw dicks on the whiteboard in the video or do something stupid, let them Do whatever you can to help them produce content while filming.
Now that the lawsuit has been filed, it will be up to a Superior Court judge to decide whether the plaintiff’s proposed class action goes forward and includes all Beast Games contestants. Lawyers for the plaintiffs also said that if the case is proven in court, the production company may be liable for millions of dollars in damages.
