Chris Tyson has spoken openly about their friendship with MrBeast, saying that the YouTuber has supported their gender since college.
Tyson recently made headlines for sharing their journey with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and has been the subject of transphobic trolling online. The treatment is generally used to help a person's body align with their gender identity.
MrBeast recently hit back at social media users who claimed his affiliation with the YouTuber could be detrimental to his career. Tyson has appeared in many of his videos in the past.
MrBeast, real name is Jimmy Donaldson, clapped back at these suggestions on social media, writing: "Yeah, this is getting absurd. Chris isn’t my “nightmare” he’s my f***en friend and things are fine. All this transphobia is starting to p*** me off."
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Spoke on GeorgeNotFound’s BANTER podcast, Tyson said that Donaldson had been aware of their gender identity for a long time.
“I mean, Jimmy’s known it since we were in college together,” Chris said. “I accidentally walked out of a bedroom — like, my bedroom and his bedroom were apart…obviously not very cis-het-male. And I told him. I told him, I was like, ‘I don’t really know what it is. I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be ready to like, deal with it.'”
“And he was like, ‘Oh yeah, you know, I don’t care. Just whenever it becomes a thing, just let me know.’ And then for like, seven years, or however many years, I just didn’t let him know.”
In April, Tyson tweeted: "Informed consent HRT saved my and many others' lives. The hurdles gnc people have to jump through to get life-saving gender-affirming healthcare in a 1st world country is wild to me. Just let people make informed decisions about their own bodies".
Despite the fact that MrBeast has been vocal in supporting Tyson, rumours had previously begun spreading online that Tyson had been dropped from MrBeast’s team after they didn’t appear in his recent video filmed in Japan.
Responding to fan questions on a Snapchat stream, Tyson clarified that they had not been removed from the team. Instead, they had asked to spend more time with their two-year-old son Tucker.
Asked if the rumours were true, Tyson said: “Nope, I pretty much told Jimmy [MrBeast], just because I want to spend time with Tucker, and he’s traveling a lot, I’m just going to come and go as I please.”
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