Ava Kris Tyson, best friend and longtime collaborator of Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, is stepping away from the high-production YouTube channel amid allegations she groomed a minor. The alleged victim, who says they are now 20, has refuted the claims.
“I would like to apologize for any of my past behavior or comments if it hurt or offended anyone. It was not my intent,” wrote Tyson on X. “Seeing recent events we’ve mutually decided it’s best I permanently step away from all things MrBeast and social media to focus on my family and mental health.” On Wednesday night, Donaldson posted that he was “disgusted” by the allegations. “I have been focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure I have all the facts,” he wrote. “That said, I’ve seen enough online and taken immediate action to remove Ava from the company, my channel, and any association with MrBeast. I do not condone or support any of the inappropriate actions.”
After revealing last year that she was on gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy and changing her pronouns on X/Twitter, Tyson has been hit by a wave of transphobic attacks online. Despite both her ex-wife Katie, with whom she shares a son, and Donaldson defending Tyson against bullying and harassment, the backlash has continued to intensify.
On June 13, a 45-minute video was posted online by the account Prism42 accusing Tyson of grooming a minor and outlining alleged evidence of inappropriate interactions between Tyson and the now 20-year-old named Lava. In the video, Prism42 claims that Tyson was 20 and Lava was 13 at the time their online communications began. Among the accusations, Prism42 points to an alleged Snapchat Tyson messaged Lava of her face with the text, “Cumming for America.”
On Monday, in a series of posts on X, Lava denied the allegations. In a repost of a conversation by YouTuber Keem, Lava was quoted as saying, “I was NOT groomed by Kris Tyson,“ and “I did not meet Kris Tyson by myself I meet Kris & the MrBeast crew with my family present.” In the post, Lava also stated: “I ran a discord with Kris Tyson when I was 13 and edgy inappropriate jokes were said that’s it.”
In another post, Lava asked followers to “help me counter all these lies,” and added, “Kris literally did nothing wrong.” Lava also addressed other videos that picked up the allegations made by Prism42, and said they are “massive lies and twisting the truth.”
“I was never exploited or taken advantage of. Can you do me a favor and comment on these videos and tell them to stop spreading lies,” wrote Lava. “This situation takes away from children who are actively being exploited everyday online. I am not a victim of anything being claimed in these videos or at all.”
A few hours after announcing the news that she would be stepping away from MrBeast, Tyson followed up the post in a thread: “To lump these two factors together to create a narrative that my behavior extended beyond bad edgy jokes is disgusting and did not happen. In past years, I have learned that my old humor is not acceptable. I cannot change who I was, but I can continue to work on myself.”
“I want to add, I never groomed anyone. The person who gets brought up in these accusations @LavaGS has vocally supported that they are false,” Tyson wrote.
In June, Donaldson defended Tyson after streamer Nickmercs posted on X that Tyson “should be ashamed.” Donaldson also replied to criticism in April 2023 that Tyson’s transition could cause the MrBeast channel to lose fans. In reply, Donaldson wrote: “This is getting absurd. Chris isn’t my ‘nightmare’ he’s my fucken friend and things are fine. All this transphobia is starting to piss me off.”
Update, July 25, 1 p.m.: This story has been updated to include comments that Donaldson posted on X.
