YouTuber MrBeast faces $100 mn lawsuit from ghost kitchen partner

by IANS |

San Francisco, Aug 8 (IANS) The ghost kitchen company that operates MrBeast Burger -- a virtual restaurant chain -- is counter-suing YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) for over $100 million.

This comes a week after Donaldson sued the virtual burger restaurant.

The YouTuber and his Beast Investments are being sued by Virtual Dining Concepts and Celebrity Virtual Dining (VDC) for breach of contract and intentional tortious interference. The claimed damages are over $100 million, reports Variety.

"This case is about a social media celebrity who believes his fame means that his word does not matter, that the facts do not matter, and that he can renege and breach his contractual obligations without consequence,” stated the lawsuit filed by VDC on Monday. “He is mistaken.”

The lawsuit claimed that Donaldson's violations of the parties' contracts and meddling in business dealings have harmed MrBeast Burger and VDC's reputations, turned away customers, and also strained relationships with suppliers and vendors, damaging the bottom lines of hundreds of restaurants around the world.

“This wanton conduct has caused Plaintiffs to suffer enormous financial harm,” the suit mentioned.

According to the complaint, Donaldson did not uphold the brand in the public eye and damaged it by making "untruthful or misleading" statements.

As per the lawsuit, the well-known YouTuber spoke negatively about MrBeast Burgers and VDC.

The lawsuit also contained examples of posts from Donaldson, some of which appear to have been deleted from his account.

In a post, Donaldson wrote to his followers that he wished to close his burger business and said that “the company I partnered with won’t let me stop even though it’s terrible for my brand.”

In another post, he said, “If I had the ability to close it, I would have done so a long time ago sadly. Sometimes when ur young you sign sh** deal.”

In his initial lawsuit against VDC last week, Donaldson accused the company of providing poor food quality and claimed that the majority of MrBeast Burger virtual restaurants had received negative culinary ratings from customers who are "deeply disappointed by the fact that MrBeast would put his name on this product."