Ava Kris Tyson is under fire after thousands of Discord messages were leaked, showing her asking for explicit photos and having inappropriate conversations with minors.
28-year-old Ava Kris Tyson was a founding member of the MrBeast channel, having appeared alongside Jimmy since its inception on YouTube in 2012. A frequent co-host through til 2024, Tyson has featured in many of the channel’s most popular videos, drawing billions of collective views in multiple languages.
However, in July 2024, 500,000 Discord messages were leaked, showing Tyson, who was 20 at the time, sending suggestive pictures and inappropriate and explicit jokes to minors.
What are the accusations?
On July 21, Tyson was accused of having inappropriate friendships with minors and grooming a young fan, LavaGS, who was 13 years old at the time.
At the beginning of the interactions, LavaGS was 13 years old, while Tyson was 20. The messages were in public Discord servers, but many of the YouTube videos claimed that it was an inappropriate friendship.
One viral post alleges, “The two constantly joked inappropriately with each other about h**tai addiction, sending suggestive pics, etc. They confirmed met up together when the minor was 16.”
In the over 500,000 messages that were leaked, it showed Tyson having underage moderators set up bots that post explicit images, encouraging them to post explicit images, and fighting to hold on to inappropriate channels despite minors having access to them.
Other messages included a user stating they were modded at the age of 14 for their help in organizing the channel, as well as Tyson discussing the setup of bots that’d automatically post explicit images with LavaGS.
“I believe in a free NSFW channel,” Tyson wrote in one of the messages after stating she would “look into” setting up a new bot.
At one point, a message sent in the Discord acknowledges that a “majority” of people in the channel were “most likely underage.” However, Tyson still argued for explicit content to be allowed and claimed “the internet is full of p*rn.”
When it was pointed out that it was the “responsibility of the server owner to prevent minors from viewing p*rnographic materials”, she responded: “What am I, a parent?”
Alleged victim of Tyson denies grooming
Tyson made LavaGS a moderator in her YouTube streams, and Lava admitted that they would send “edgy jokes” to each other, but initially denied that their interactions were ever inappropriate.
“These videos are massive lies and twisting the truth,” LavaGS said on July 22. “Ava never did anything wrong and just made a few edgy jokes. I was never exploited or taken advantage of.”
In a follow-up post on X/Twitter, LavaGS continued, “Kris did nothing wrong. What’s actually disgusting is you guys twisting things and making me a victim.”
On July 26 however, following a response from Ava herself as well as an official response from MrBeast, LavaGS has said, “After reading the chat logs, this stuff was inappropriate and wrong.”
He continued, “I still believe I am not a grooming victim but these conversations should not have happened with me and any other minor in this discord. I was a minor in this situation and not the adult influencer who shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, I did not see this wrong at the time.”
Tyson responds to accusations
On July 23, Tyson responded to the allegations, apologizing for her actions and announcing she was leaving MrBeast’s team.
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Tyson said in her response to the allegations that she had never groomed anyone, calling the accusations false, though still apologizing for past behavior on social media.
“I humbly apologize to anyone I have hurt with my unacceptable social media posts, past actions, and to those who may feel betrayed by how I used to act online,” she wrote.
MrBeast reveals Ava’s removal in statement
MrBeast released a statement following the initial allegations, revealing he had hired an independent third party to launch an investigation and ‘removed’ Tyson from his company.
He took to X/Twitter to say: “Over the last few days, I’ve become aware of the serious allegations of Ava Tyson’s behavior online and I am disgusted and opposed to such unacceptable acts,” MrBeast’s statement read.
“During that time, I have been focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure I have all the facts. That said I’ve seen enough online and taken immediate action to remove Ava from the company, my channel, and any association with MrBeast.”
MrBeast stated he would wait until the investigation has been completed and will take further action based on the findings.
Former MrBeast employee accuses Tyson of sexual assault
On July 27, Jess – a former employee of MrBeast who goes by ‘Mooskina‘ online – shared on X (formerly Twitter) her experience with Tyson, claiming she was sexually assaulted and “coerced” by the “power dynamic” in play.
Jess wrote that she first began interacting with Tyson after the latter followed her on Twitter in 2022, with the two discussing HRT and the possibility of appearing in a MrBeast video. Allegedly, the relationship soon became sexual and involved Ava “love-bombing” Jess into feeling like “the most important person in her life”.
According to Jess, this led to the pair meeting in person and engaging in a “one-sided” sexual relationship in which Tyson “never reciprocated”.
Though she left after finding out Tyson “did not have the ability to cast anyone in a MrBeast video”, Jess returned after she was brought back as an assistant. The two began living together and allegedly resumed the sexual aspect of their relationship.
“I had just moved in with Ava and left my job to come work as her assistant. In no way shape or form did I feel like I could say no without somehow risking my job or being asked to leave,” Jess wrote, describing how she felt “coerced”.
Despite sharing alleged messages showing an agreement to keep things platonic, Jess claimed Ava “toed the line” with her in terms of “what was and wasn’t an appropriate relationship” considering their “power dynamic.”
While they were never officially partners, Jess stated she and Tyson eventually became “very, very close emotionally”, leading her to believe they had “something special moving forward.” However, Tyson got into a relationship with someone else and Jess decided to move out, subsequently losing her job as well.
Jess claimed she eventually talked to HR and divulged the extent of her relationship with Tyson, whereby she learned Tyson “had not been forthcoming with them”. This “led MrBeast to launch a third-party investigation into the matter.”
We’ll be sure to keep you updated as the story continues to develop.