STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
One of the most commercially successful creators online is getting sued for things he allegedly did in real life. We're talking about YouTube's highest earner - MrBeast, all one word, starting with letters M-R. He's accused of mistreating contestants during the filming of his Amazon reality show competition. Todd Spangler is covering this story. He's a reporter for Variety and joins us on this early morning. Good morning.
TODD SPANGLER: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. I just checked MrBeast's YouTube channel - 316 million subscribers...
SPANGLER: Yes.
INSKEEP: ...Crazy competitions...
SPANGLER: Yes.
INSKEEP: ...Embedded ads for products. Who is the guy behind all this?
SPANGLER: His name is Jimmy Donaldson. He's 26. He's, you know, this YouTube impresario who's figured out how to get a huge fan base and billions of views doing these crazy stunts.
INSKEEP: It's essentially little game shows - not so little game shows. It looks like...
SPANGLER: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...There's even an amount of budgeting behind this. There's a lot of money going on here.
SPANGLER: Millions of dollars, yeah.
INSKEEP: And he is making tens of millions of dollars, is that correct?
SPANGLER: That's the estimate, yes.
INSKEEP: OK. So what is it - according to this lawsuit - that he did and Amazon allegedly did?
SPANGLER: Well, it names his production company and - as well as Amazon and a third-party production company. And they - these five anonymous participants say that they were deprived of medical care, food, sleep and, quote, "the necessities of basic hygiene." They also claim they were, in some cases, subjected to sexual harassment on this production.
INSKEEP: I want to understand what was happening. Are these five people who were in the same one of these YouTube videos? And what was the competition that was going on at the time?
SPANGLER: Well, this is for the filming of "Beast Games," which is a show that is coming to Amazon Prime Video.
INSKEEP: I see. So this is not some of the stuff from the past. This is a forthcoming production. But it's some kind of competition like "Survivor" or something? And...
SPANGLER: Yeah. Amazon says it's going to be the biggest payout in TV history - $5 million to the winner of whoever one of these 1,000 participants makes it to the end.
INSKEEP: I want to understand these allegations a little more. They allege sexual harassment. We understand how that happens in any kind of workplace - or ways that it can happen, anyway. They say they were denied food. Is there something about this competition or game that would call for them to be denied food?
SPANGLER: We don't know what the challenges are specifically in this part of this show. But that's what the lawsuit is alleging - is that they - the lawsuit includes - there are a number of claims that are redacted, and the plaintiffs' attorneys say they're doing that so that these people don't get attacked by anyone.
INSKEEP: Oh. I imagine that MrBeast has a big online following, but...
SPANGLER: He does.
INSKEEP: ...Has MrBeast - Mr. Donaldson - or Amazon responded in any way?
SPANGLER: Donaldson's representative declined to comment, and Amazon did as well.
INSKEEP: Have not said anything?
SPANGLER: That's right.
INSKEEP: Is it common for some of these creators, as they become big stars, to get this kind of scrutiny for the way that they're behaving?
SPANGLER: There is certainly a lot of attention that people pay to these online creators. And when they say stupid things or offensive things, they get called out. What's different about this is that this isn't about specifically what MrBeast did or didn't say. This is about a production that is accused of mistreating its participants.
INSKEEP: On a larger scale. Todd Spangler of Variety, thanks very much.
SPANGLER: Thank you, Steve.
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