YouTuber MrBeast is being counter-sued for $100 million by Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind Beast Burger restaurants.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, shared in June that he was going to be “moving on” from his Beast Burger restaurants in order to concentrate more on his snack business with his chocolate bar brand Feastables.
Just over two years ago Donaldson partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to launch over 2,000 ‘ghost kitchens’ to make Beast Burger available across the United States.
VDC are suing Donaldson for failing to honour his contractual obligations, as well as intentional tortious interference. The lawsuit was filed on Monday morning in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York.
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The suit, obtained by Variety, is a response to Donaldson suing VDC and its parent company last month, wanting to terminate the deal for his restaurant chain, alleging the burgers it served were called “disgusting,” “revolting” and “inedible” which damaged his reputation. Last week, VDC hit back at the suit claiming it was “riddled with false statements and inaccuracies”, as well as calling it “meritless” and “ill-advised”.
“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,” the suit states. “He is mistaken.”
The counter-suit claims that Donaldson had breached the parties’ agreements and interfered with business dealings. As a result, it has damaged the reputation of MrBeast Burger and VDC, turned away customers and ruined relationships with suppliers and vendors.
The lawsuit also contains examples of deleted tweets from the YouTube star’s account where he writes that he wished to close the burger business, writing: “the company I partnered with won’t let me stop even though it’s terrible for my brand.”
VDC was co-founded by Robert Earl, who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood. The company has backed celebrity brands including those from Mariah Carey and Mario Lopez.
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