MrBeast Lawsuit: Harassment, Beast Games, and Burger Dispute

The MrBeast lawsuit landscape in 2026 centers on three separate cases against YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson and his companies: an April 2026 sexual harassment and wrongful termination suit filed by a former executive, Lorrayne Mavromatis; a September 2024 proposed class action by contestants from the Amazon Prime Video show Beast Games; and a 2023 commercial fight with the operator of the MrBeast Burger ghost-kitchen brand. The employment case is the newest and the most detailed publicly, and it sits against the backdrop of an internal investigation Donaldson’s company commissioned in 2024.

The Mavromatis Employment Lawsuit

Lorrayne Mavromatis, a Brazilian-born content strategist, sued MrBeastYouTube, LLC and GameChanger 24/7, LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in April 2026. Both companies are based in Greenville, North Carolina, and the complaint alleges they operate as a single integrated enterprise sharing ownership, management, and staff.¹

Mavromatis was hired in August 2022 to run MrBeast’s Instagram team and was promoted twice in her first year, eventually becoming head of creative over the verticals division at a $250,000 salary.²

What the Complaint Alleges

The 24-page complaint describes the workplace as a “boys’ club.” Mavromatis alleges that former CEO James Warren, Donaldson’s cousin, held private one-on-one meetings with her at his home, commented on her appearance, and told her she should feel “honored” when a male client made unwelcome sexual advances. She also says Warren explained Donaldson’s refusal to make eye contact with her by telling her that “her appearance had a certain sexual effect” on him, prompting her to wear baggy clothing to work.³

Other allegations include being excluded from all-male meetings, being told to “shut up” by male colleagues, and being asked by Donaldson himself to “fetch a beer” before he would participate in a video shoot.¹ The suit also points to an internal document titled “How to Succeed In MrBeast Production” that it says instructed employees to “empower the boys when filming,” said “It’s okay for the boys to be childish,” and included the phrase “No Does Not Mean No.”⁴ Beast Industries denies that document is its official employee handbook.⁵

The HR Complaint and Transfer

In November 2023, Mavromatis filed an internal complaint with Susan Parisher, the company’s head of human resources and Donaldson’s mother. The suit says the company had no anonymous or third-party reporting channel, so grievances involving Donaldson or Warren went through a family member.⁶ Two months later she was told her claims were “unsubstantiated.”⁷ In January 2024 she was moved to a social media manager role in the merchandise division run by GameChanger 24/7, a division the complaint calls a place where “careers go to die.”¹ The company says she asked for the transfer to gain experience elsewhere in the business.⁵

Maternity Leave and Firing

Mavromatis began maternity leave in late March 2025 after pregnancy complications. The complaint alleges she was pressured to keep working through her leave, including from the delivery room in active labor. It cites a message in which she told colleagues she was “actually in labor at the hospital as we speak” and a coworker replied that she “shouldn’t even be checking” her messages.⁸ The company points to that same exchange as evidence it did not pressure her to work.⁹

She was fired on November 6, 2025, less than three weeks after returning to work full-time. The complaint says she was told she was “too high caliber” for her role, that a man later filled her position, and that the company used her newborn’s medical insurance as leverage to push her to sign a severance agreement releasing employment claims.¹

Claims Filed and Case Status

The complaint, filed as Case No. 4:26-cv-59, asserts three causes of action: violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, wrongful discharge in violation of North Carolina public policy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.¹⁰ Mavromatis also filed an EEOC charge in December 2025 alleging sex and pregnancy discrimination and retaliation, and plans to add Title VII claims to the federal case once she receives a right-to-sue letter.¹¹ Her case is supported by the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund at the National Women’s Law Center.¹²

As of June 2026, the defendants have answered the complaint, and the court has entered a discovery planning order. No motion to dismiss appears on the docket.¹³

How Beast Industries Has Responded

Gaude Paez, the company’s chief communications officer, called the filing a “clout-chasing complaint” resting on “deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements,” and said the company has “extensive evidence, including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony” contradicting the claims.¹⁴ Paez said Mavromatis’s termination came from “a reorganization of an underperforming group.”⁹ A spokesperson for former CEO Warren called the allegation about Donaldson’s reaction to Mavromatis’s appearance “ridiculous” and “fabricated for the sole purpose of sparking headlines.”¹⁵ In filings seeking dismissal, the company also argued that claims involving Warren and other former managers are time-barred and that the suit was filed for publicity.¹⁶ On the FMLA allegations, the company produced a screenshot of what it says is Mavromatis’s signed acknowledgment of the handbook’s FMLA policies.¹⁷

The Beast Games Contestants’ Class Action

In September 2024, five anonymous contestants from Donaldson’s Amazon Prime Video competition Beast Games filed a proposed class action in Los Angeles Superior Court. Contestant 1 v. MRB2024 LLC (No. 24STCV24042) names MRB2024 LLC, Off One’s Base LLC, Amazon Alternative LLC, and Donaldson as defendants.¹⁸

The 54-page complaint says roughly 1,000 people competed for a $5 million prize and alleges:

Meals were provided “sporadically and sparsely,” and contestants lacked clean underwear and hygiene products.¹⁹
Several contestants ended up hospitalized, and on-site medical staffing was insufficient.²⁰
Contestants performed “essential labour” under production staff’s direction and should have been classified as paid employees rather than unpaid volunteers.¹⁹
A “culture of misogyny and sexism” created a hostile environment for female contestants; two of the five plaintiffs seek additional compensation on that basis.¹⁹

The plaintiffs are represented by the Pafundi Law Firm, Singian Law, Stuart Alban Law, and the Whang Law Firm.²¹ As of mid-2026, the case is still in discovery. It has not been certified as a class, no settlement has been announced, and no trial date has been set.¹⁸ Amazon renewed the show anyway, with a second season premiering in January 2026.²²

The MrBeast Burger Dispute

In July 2023, Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts, the operator of the MrBeast Burger ghost-kitchen brand, in the U.S. Southern District of New York. He alleged VDC served “low quality” and “inedible” food that damaged his reputation, registered MrBeast trademarks worldwide without his consent, and failed to pay him despite the venture generating millions.²³ VDC countersued in New York state court, seeking more than $100 million and accusing Donaldson of breaching the agreement to serve his own interests.²⁴ In May 2025, a New York appellate court unanimously affirmed dismissal of several VDC counterclaims, including tortious interference with contract and prospective business advantage, finding that Donaldson’s social media posts about VDC were protected opinion rather than defamation.²⁵

The 2024 Internal Investigation

The Mavromatis suit sits on top of a workplace probe Donaldson’s company commissioned in 2024. MrBeast LLC hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, with attorney Alex Spiro leading the work. The investigation ran about three months, interviewed 39 current and former employees, and reviewed more than 4.5 million documents from emails, phone records, Slack, and Discord.²⁶

The probe, concluded in November 2024, found the grooming and sexual misconduct allegations that had surfaced publicly to be “without basis” and “soundly rejected, including by alleged victims.”²⁷ It also identified what Spiro described as “several isolated instances of workplace harassment and misconduct,” which sources described as “frat boy locker room behavior.”²⁸ Between five and ten employees were fired.²⁹ Spiro attributed some of the problems to fast growth, saying “policies and practices essential in a mature company would lag behind commercial success.”²⁶

The company then hired a new CEO, chief people officer, and general counsel, mandated corporate training, and set up an anonymous hotline for reporting misconduct.²⁷ Mavromatis’s complaint, filed months after those reforms were announced, cites the investigation’s own “frat boy locker room behavior” finding and alleges the changes came too late for the culture she experienced.¹⁰

1
Courthouse News Service. Mavromatis v. MrBeastYouTube Complaint
2
The Hollywood Reporter. MrBeast Company Sued for Sexual Harassment
3
ABC7 Chicago. MrBeast Employee Alleges She Was Harassed for Years, Fired After Maternity Leave
4
The New York Times. MrBeast Lawsuit Harassment Claims
5
HR Brew. Popular YouTuber MrBeast Hit With Employment Lawsuit Alleging FMLA Violations and Toxic Workplace
6
NBC News. MrBeast Former Staffer Allegations of Company Sexism
7
Business Insider. Ex-MrBeast Employee Sues the Company Accusing It of Retaliation
8
WITN. MrBeast Employee Alleges Harassment for Years, Fired After Maternity Leave
9
CBC. MrBeast Lawsuit
10
Deadline. Mavromatis v. MrBeastYouTube Complaint
11
Bloomberg Law. Fired Staffer Accuses MrBeast of Sexism, Parent Leave Violations
12
National Women’s Law Center. MrBeast Sued for Firing New Mom Following History of Sex Harassment Claims
13
PACER Monitor. Mavromatis v. MrBeastYouTube, LLC et al
14
Los Angeles Times. MrBeast Sued Over Claims of Sexual Harassment, Firing New Mom
15
Fortune. Former MrBeast Employee Sexual Harassment Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit
16
Deadline. MrBeast Sexual Harassment Claims Denial
17
People. MrBeast Speaks Out Following Ex-Employee Lawsuit Alleging Toxic Work Environment
18
Bloomberg Law. MrBeast, Amazon Sued by Game Show Contestants Over Mistreatment
19
BBC. Beast Games Contestants Sue MrBeast and Amazon
20
Variety. MrBeast, Amazon Sued by Beast Games Contestants
21
Variety. MrBeast-Amazon Beast Games Complaint
22
Decider. MrBeast’s Beast Games Return Amid Lawsuit
23
NBC News. MrBeast Lawsuit MrBeast Burger Virtual Dining Concepts
24
Variety. MrBeast Sued by Burger Company for $100 Million
25
Justia. Beast Invs., LLC v Celebrity Virtual Dining, LLC
26
Courthouse News Service. MrBeast Probe Ends With Some Employees Fired but Finds No Proof of Sexual Misconduct Allegations
27
NBC News. MrBeast Jimmy Donaldson Allegations Legal Probe Findings
28
New York Post. MrBeast Investigation Finds No Evidence of Grooming; Harassment Discovery Causes Firings
29
Newsweek. MrBeast Fires Employees After Probe