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Today’s News

CEASE & DESIST

MrBeast has reportedly hired a celebrity lawyer to crack down on a former employee

The report: MrBeast is seemingly going on the offensive. According to British tabloid Daily Mail, the creator known IRL as Jimmy Donaldson has hired Alex Spiro—a celebrity lawyer with clientele like Elon Musk and Alec Baldwin—as he considers legal action against a former employee.

Spiro’s firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is currently conducting the internal review Donaldson launched in the wake of a controversy for the MrBeast brand. Now, Donaldson seems to have recruited the high-powered attorney to target some of the voices fueling many allegations.

The evidence: The Daily Mail shared the text of a cease-and-desist letter reportedly sent to DogPack404, a former employee who has accused Donaldson of rigging videos, mistreating employees, and covering up scandals across a series of YouTube videos. (Those claims are part of a larger wave of complaints from detractors concerned about the production of Donaldson’s Amazon original Beast Games and the behavior of past employees like Ava Kris Tyson.)

According to the Daily Mail, Spiro’s cease-and-desist letter identifies DogPack404 as Dawson French and accuses him of contributing to the controversy by spreading “false and defamatory allegations” despite spending only “three weeks at the company.”

What’s next: The timing of Spiro’s letter is significant. The third installment in French’s YouTube series was meant to be released soon. Now, it’s possible that video will never see the light of day.

Even if that’s the case, French’s claims are unlikely to be the last we hear regarding the MrBeast controversy. Jake Franklin recently took to X to discuss the history of his brother-in-law—a former MrBeast employee French targets in one of his videos—while creator Ludwig Ahgren says Donaldson himself is planning “one reply” once all of the accusations are out in the open.

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With a single prompt from you, ClipAnything can identify and clip specific moments, people, actions, and even emotions. Simply describe the scene or compilation you want clipped to generate long-form YouTube highlight videos up to 15 minutes long. 

Here are a few prompts to get you started:

• Looking for the moment you beat the boss? Ask ClipAnything to “find the time we jumped up and down while playing video games.”
  
  

• Highlight hilarious chat interactions by asking ClipAnything to “compile the five funniest moments” of the stream.
  
  

• Shine a spotlight on your guest stars by asking ClipAnything to “clip all scenes featuring the guy in the green shirt.”

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• A report published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General backs up a claim you probably already assumed was true: mindless scrolling makes boredom worse, not better. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been formally charged in France with “complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs and hacking software.” (Engadget)
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• A Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled that TikTok must face a lawsuit that seeks to hold the platform accountable for the deaths of underage users who took part in a viral “blackout challenge.” (The Verge)
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• Snap has released an “Educator’s Guide to Snapchat,” which outlines the platform’s features and explains online dangers like cyberbullying and child sexual exploitation. (Engadget)

TRIUMPHANT RETURN

One of YouTube’s best video essay channels is back with a new short film after a 7-year hiatus

The revival: Every Frame a Painting is back in business. The video essay channel—which attracted 2 million YouTube followers by posting detailed “film form” analyses between 2014 and 2017—recently began uploading again for the first time in 7 years.

The creators of Every Frame a Painting (aka Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos) announced their return and the upcoming arrival of their new short film in an updated channel description:

The context: The Second premiered at Canada’s Fantasia Festival last month. The film will make its online debut at an interesting point in time for the YouTube film community, as prominent indie distributors like A24 and Neon have increasingly taken an interest in creator projects like those pioneered by Racka Racka and Chris Stuckmann.

Fans may be crossing their fingers that Ramos and Zhou will make a similar career move, but chances are they won’t stick around for long. The latter creator explained shortly after Every Frame a Painting went on hiatus that its videos “skirted the edge of legality” with regard to copyright and fair use. As he told IndieWire, similar issues followed him and Ramos throughout their next project, the Netflix original Voir.

WATCH THIS 📺

Ilona Maher is living her best life on TikTok—and on the cover of Sports Illustrated

The Olympian: Ilona Maher might not currently be in the thick of Olympic competition (earning a bronze medal was so last month), but the rugby star is still claiming her fair share of wins across the pond.

Since returning to North America, Maher has posted multiple viral TikToks, dropped in for an episode of Late Night with Seth Myers, and even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. The Olympian will most likely spend the next few days tuning into the Paralympics—but we’re guessing she’ll still make time to post a cheeky video or two.

Check out Maher’s TikTok account here.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.