Things That Don't Make Sense About The MrBeast/Ava Kris Tyson Controversy

MrBeast and his crew have been under heavy scrutiny ever since disturbing allegations against Ava Kris Tyson blew up online. Tyson has been accused of inappropriately messaging and potentially grooming underage fans — leading to her officially parting ways with the MrBeast team — and the controversy is far from over. The internet had mixed reactions to MrBeast's statement about the situation, and people are still demanding more answers from him.

There are still many details that fans have questions about, which isn't helped by the cacophony of voices on the internet. There's dogpiling, conflicting stories, and all sorts of uncomfortable details about the story to sift through online. In order to sort this mess out, MrBeast has said he's hired a third-party investigator to look into the situation. Fans want answers now, but until that investigation gets finished, there's so much about this controversy that is still unclear. Here are some of the big questions that have popped up over the last few days.

One oddity here is the timeline. Stories like these can sometimes take years to come to light — just look at Dr Disrespect's Twitch ban as an example — but the scandal surrounding Ava Kris Tyson has bizarrely broken out in fits and starts. YouTube channel Prism42 first shared evidence of Tyson and an underage fan who goes by LavaGS having a close relationship back in early June 2024, but it wasn't until the end of July that the story started picking up any real momentum. At the time of this writing, Prism42's original video still only 20,000 views on YouTube, but the evidence he presented has since been amplified and shared all over the internet.

The fact that Prism42 is a lesser-known content creator helps to partially explain why the video about Tyson didn't immediately make waves. The story was eventually picked up by other creators like Adrox and Breone, who rolled the LavaGS story into older anecdotes about Tyson being a fan of controversial internet artist Shadman. Not quite a week after those creators put out new videos, the story at last broke into the mainstream. It's been a busy summer, so maybe the internet was just distracted and slow moving on this story. Still, the pace with which this story broke has been confusing for some onlookers.

In the first few days of the scandal breaking out, the internet was left waiting to hear from MrBeast and Tyson herself. Fans thought their statements might help clarify the situation, but now that they've both spoken out, there are even more questions. Some commenters on social media have argued that MrBeast and Tyson are both presenting slightly different versions of what happened between them.

Tyson responded first, with her post addressing the situation coming out on the afternoon of July 23. She said, After offering an apology to anyone who was offended by her past actions, Tyson went on to say, "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."

Tyson's statement makes it sound like she stepped back after she and MrBeast both agreed it was time for her to leave the crew. However, MrBeast's statement doesn't quite match up: "I've seen enough online and taken immediate action to remove Ava from the company, my channel, and any association with MrBeast." MrBeast doesn't frame the split as a mutual decision, but more like he outright fired Tyson. Even if the end result is the same, fans want to know which version of events is accurate.

In his social media post, MrBeast didn't just announce that he had removed Ava Tyson from his business. He also said, "I have been focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure I have all the facts.I will allow the independent investigators the necessary time to conduct a comprehensive investigation and will take any further actions based on their findings."

That seems like a straightforward and reasonable response, but it does create another strange wrinkle in this story. Days before MrBeast made this post, "DramaAlert" host Keemstar claimed that he'd discussed the accusations with MrBeast, who then apparently put him in touch with LavaGS, the alleged victim. Following this conversation, Keemstar says he spoke with LavaGS as part of his own investigation.

MrBeast connected me directly to Lava the alleged Kris Tyson groomed victim.

Lava " I was NOT groomed by Kris Tyson.

Lava " I did not meet Kris Tyson by myself I meet Kris & the MrBeast crew with my family present "

Lava " I ran a discord with Kris Tyson when I was 13 and...

— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) July 22, 2024

A number of things here don't quite add up, as noted by some onlookers. Why would MrBeast reach out to Keemstar if he was also hiring an independent investigator to examine the allegations behind the scenes? On top of that, LavaGS went public with his side of the story hours before Keemstar claimed to have spoken with him. In theory, Keemstar could have reached out to Lava via DMs without MrBeast getting involved at all. The only thing that makes sense here is that LavaGS may have been so inundated with messages that this was the easiest way for them to talk.

MrBeast's investigation has also raised a number of questions for his followers. In his statement on X, MrBeast said that he'd spent a few days focusing on finding an independent investigator, but didn't make it clear whether or not the investigation has actually begun. Considering how this entire story has unfolded so slowly, some commenters believe that MrBeast has been looking into the allegations for longer than most of the people finding out about it this week.

At least one of MrBeast's former employees seems to have implied that the social media creator has known about this situation for longer than he's letting on. Jake "The Viking" Franklin posted, "Jimmy knew." Franklin has not yet posted any hard evidence to support his claim, but fans are probably going to want MrBeast to come forward with a clearer timeline of events and an estimate on how long the third-party investigation into the situation is going to take.

You can't trust everything you see on the internet, which is a message that always bears repeating. There are verified screenshots of Tyson's conversations with LavaGS that have come under scrutiny for their inappropriate content, and Lava himself has come forward to confirm some parts of the story while pushing back against others. Over the last few days, other accounts have been coming forward with claims against Tyson, but some of the evidence has been disputed.

An account called Clip Hub posted videos that claimed to show messages between Tyson and another underage fan. Community notes on X point out a number of apparent inaccuracies, including mismatched dates and Tyson being listed under the wrong name. Those videos aren't the only ones that have been making the rounds on social media, though. Right now unverified accusations are flying left and right, so folks following the story may want to take things on social media with a grain of salt, at least until further official statements are made. as always it's best to take the things you see on social media with a grain of salt. If we're lucky, MrBeast's investigator will be able to quickly look into all the claims that are now cropping up to definitively separate fact from fiction.