A former female staffer who worked for Beast Industries, the media venture behind the popular YouTube channel MrBeast, is suing the company, alleging she was sexually harassed and fired shortly after she returned from maternity leave.<\/p>\n
The employee, Lorrayne Mavromatis, a Brazilian-born social media professional, alleges in a lawsuit she was subjected to sexual harassment by the company\u2019s management and demoted after she complained about her treatment. She said she was urged to join a conference call while in labor and expected to work during her maternity leave in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the federal complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it. There is extensive evidence \u2014 including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony \u2014 that unequivocally refutes her claims. We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us,\u201d Gaude Paez, a Beast Industries spokesperson, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Donaldson, 27, began MrBeast as a teen gaming channel that soon exploded into a media company worth an estimated $5 billion, with 500 employees and 450 million subscribers who watch its games, stunts and giveaways. <\/p>\n
Mavromatis, who was hired in 2022 as its head of Instagram, described a pervasive climate of discrimination and harassment, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
In her complaint, she alleges the company\u2019s former CEO James Warren made her meet him at his home for one-on-one meetings while he commented on her looks and dismissed her complaints about a male client\u2019s unwanted advances, telling her \u201cshe should be honored that the client was hitting on her.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Mavromatis asked Warren why MrBeast, Donaldson, would not work with her, she was told that \u201cshe is a beautiful woman and her appearance had a certain sexual effect on Jimmy,\u201d and, \u201cLet\u2019s just say that when you\u2019re around and he goes to the restroom, he\u2019s not actually using the restroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paez refuted the claim.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous. This is an allegation fabricated for the sole purpose of sparking headlines,\u201d Paez said. <\/p>\n
Mavromatis said she endured a slate of other indignities such as being told by Donaldson that she \u201cwould only participate in her video shoot if she brought him a beer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this male-centric workplace, Plaintiff, one of the few women in a high-level role, was excluded from otherwise all-male meetings, demeaned in front of colleagues, harassed, and suffered from males be given preferential treatment in employment decisions,\u201d states the complaint.<\/p>\n
When Mavromatis raised a question during a staff meeting with her team, she said a male colleague told her to \u201cshut up\u201d or \u201cstop talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
At MrBeast headquarters in Greenville, N.C., she said male executives mocked female contestants participating in BeastGames, \u201cwho complained they did not have access to feminine hygiene products and clean underwear while participating in the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
In November 2023, Mavromatis formally complained about \u201cthe sexually inappropriate encounters and harassment, and demeaning and hostile work environment she and other female employees had been living and experiencing working at MrBeast,\u201d to the company\u2019s then head of human resources, Sue Parisher, who is also Donaldson\u2019s mother, according to the suit.<\/p>\n
In her complaint, Mavromatis said Beast Industries did not have a method or process for employees to report such issues either anonymously or to a third party, rather employees were expected to follow the company\u2019s handbook, \u201cHow to Succeed In MrBeast Production.\u201d<\/p>\n
In it, employees were instructed that, \u201cIt\u2019s okay for the boys to be childish,\u201d \u201cif talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them\u201d and \u201cNo does not mean no,\u201d according to the complaint. <\/p>\n
Mavromatis alleges that she was demoted and then fired.<\/p>\n
Paez said that Mavromatis\u2019s role was eliminated as part of a reorganization of an underperforming group within Beast Industries and that she was made aware of this. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former female staffer who worked for Beast Industries, the media venture behind the popular YouTube channel MrBeast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[141676,321,11338,181157,44976,739,12553,93,181160,181159,17836,181161,61,60,181158,181156,2091,43799,10820],"class_list":{"0":"post-412920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-beast-industries","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-claim","11":"tag-clout-chasing-complaint","12":"tag-colleague","13":"tag-company","14":"tag-employee","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-false-statement","17":"tag-gaude-paez","18":"tag-head","19":"tag-high-level-role","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-jimmy-donaldson","23":"tag-lorrayne-mavromatis","24":"tag-male","25":"tag-mrbeast","26":"tag-sexual-harassment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}