The world’s most popular YouTube star is suing the company behind his fast food chain after fans called the food “low quality” and “inedible”.
Jimmy Donaldson, known to his subscribers as MrBeast, partnered with Florida-based Virtual Dining Concepts to launch MrBeast Burger in 2020.
He is known for his big-money competitions and expensive stunts, as well as his philanthropy.
Mr Donaldson claims the company is harming his brand and reputation by providing low-quality products and customer experience.
He is asking a judge to allow him to terminate the account.
The lawsuit claims “Virtual Dining Concepts was more focused on rapidly expanding the business as a way to pitch the virtual restaurant model to other celebrities for its own benefit, it was not focused on controlling the quality of the MrBeast Burger customer experience and products”.
It says customers received orders which were “delivered late, in unbranded packaging, fail to include the ordered items, and in some instances, were inedible”.
Mr Donaldson’s lawyers submitted examples of hundreds of online reviews about the food, including screenshots and links to YouTube reviews, as well as viral images of customers saying they were served raw meat.
In some of the complaints Mr Donaldson was blamed for the poor service.
“Customers have referred to the burgers as being ‘disgusting,’ ‘revolting,’ and ‘inedible,'” the complaint states.
“They have claimed that ‘it is sad that MrBeast would put his name on this’, ‘MrBeast is being cancelled over burgers’; ‘never had something so nasty’; ‘inaccurate marketing’; ‘Orlando’s worst burger’; ‘big name, poor food’; ‘very upsetting for the high price’; and ‘likely the worst burger I have ever had’.”
The lawsuit states MrBeast Burger generated “millions of dollars” but “MrBeast has not received a dime”.
It claims because of the poor customer service experience and poor quality of items served “MrBeast’s reputation and brand has, indeed, been materially and irreparably harmed.”
Mr Donaldson has responded to his fans when asked about the partnership.
“Is @MrBeastBurger done?” one asked.
Mr Donaldson replied: “Yeah, the problem with Beast Burger is I can’t guarantee the quality of the order. When working with other restaurants it’s impossible to control it sadly.”
MrBeast currently has around 172 million subscribers on YouTube, making it the second-most subscribed channel and the most subscribed non-brand channel.
Sky News has contacted Virtual Dining Concepts for comment.
Kanye West’s Yeezy online shopping platform has been taken down after selling T-shirts featuring a swastika.
The rapper, also known as Ye, used a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday to send people to his website to buy the clothing emblazoned with the Nazi symbol – an image often used by the extreme-right.
The ecommerce platform Shopify, which hosts many online shops and businesses, has deactivated his site and his domain name yeez.com is being sold for $98,999 (£79,692).
Shopify said in an emailed statement to Sky News’ sister channel NBC News: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify.”
West’s representative is yet to respond to a request from NBC for comment.
The white T-shirts featured a black swastika on the front and were the only items for sale on the front page of yeezy.com.
No text or explanation accompanied the item, just the letters “HH-01.” They were available for $20 (£16).
More on Kanye West
Related Topics:
Initially, West’s site showed a notice from Shopify which said the store was “unavailable”.
But the site now redirects to the registrar GoDaddy, the platform which manages yeez.com, where a page shows the domain name is for sale.
GoDaddy has not yet responded to questions about the sale and whether it was enforced by the company or initiated by West.
The decision to sell the T-shirt triggered widespread criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League (ADF) which posted a statement on X on Monday, describing the shirt sales as further proof of West’s antisemitism.
The organisation, formed to combat anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination, explained that the swastika was adopted by Hitler and “continues to threaten and instil fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy”.
The ADF also said the T-shirt was labelled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01’ – suggesting this was code for “Heil Hitler”.
West has in recent days been posting antisemitic messages on X, as well as writing “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi”. His account then had a “sensitive content warning” added to it before he posted a final message.
“I’m logging out of Twitter,” he wrote. “I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent.”
After his account was deactivated on Monday, his spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos issued an explanation.
“Ye is an intergenerational artist and icon who continues to redefine the limits of creativity and free expression. He has deactivated his X account for the time being,” he said in a statement.
One of the most successful figures in hop-hip, West built up a fashion brand called Yeezy which began as a collaboration with Adidas. But the German sportswear giant cut ties with him in 2022 over his antisemitic remarks and eventually reached a settlement in October.
Lisa Riley has reacted to reports that Peter Kay likened a heckler to her, insisting she’s “not offended”.
The Bolton comedian was performing his Manchester gig on Saturday night when a woman was removed by security guards after shouting “We love you Peter”. Kay is said to have likened her to Riley as she was being taken out.
The audience member has said she is “annoyed and upset” about the comments.
“To go to a show and feel like you’re having the mick taken out of you because of your weight, I was just a bit shocked,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“The whole arena was laughing, I think they thought it was part of the show but there was a nastiness to his voice. It was like he was trying to get the crowd against me – it just wasn’t nice, to be honest.”
Riley, 48, is best known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale and also fronted You’ve Been Framed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Appearing to respond to her impromptu mention during the show, Riley posted a picture on Instagram on Monday which read: “Keep calm and laugh”. She added the message: “It’s a laugh, it’s funny!!!”
Instagram
This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram cookies for this session only.
She then followed it up on Tuesday with a post on Instagram which said: “Please draw a line under this now. I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine”.
Kay was also understood to have thrown two men out of the same gig after one repeatedly shouted “garlic bread,” which is one of Kay’s catchphrases.
Kay told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he had taken action against hecklers as they were ruining the show for others, and it was “no longer fair” to the other audience members.
In response to his likening of one audience member to Riley, he said in a statement to the show: “I didn’t realise it was an insult. She did look remarkably like Lisa Riley, I didn’t realise that was an insult”.
One audience member told the Manchester Evening News that Kay had “shouted” at the hecklers for “a good three to five minutes” during the show.
They said the audience was mixed in their reaction: “Some couldn’t believe it and were obviously annoyed and others were laughing, either thinking it was part of the show or going along with it.”
Kay, 51, who has been performing his record-breaking Better Late Than Never Again tour since 2022, recently performed his 100th show at the AO Arena – the same venue the three hecklers were expelled from.
Tickets to watch the show start at £35, but go up to about £350 for top-notch seats.
Sky News has contacted representatives for Kay for comment.
Kay is currently scheduled to perform his tour into spring 2026.
A pilot has died after a private jet owned by Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil crashed into another plane at an airport in Arizona.
Neil was not on board at the time of the collision, which happened off the runway at Scottsdale Airport on Monday afternoon.
Neil’s girlfriend Rain Andreani and her friend suffered injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.
They were taken to hospital with the jet’s co-pilot, who was also injured.
“While details are still emerging, our hearts go out to the families of both the pilot who lost his life and the passengers who suffered injuries,” Motley Crue said in a statement.
“Motley Crue will announce a way to help support the family of the deceased pilot – stand by for an announcement very soon”.
Rain Andreani broke five ribs in the crash and the dogs the women were travelling with survived, TMZ reports.