The former head of Instagram for MrBeast’s production company claims she was wrongfully terminated after she complained about unwanted sexual comments and lost her job following her maternity leave — even after she was pressured to join a conference call from the delivery room.
Lorrayne Mavromatis says the top leadership at Beast Industries sexually harassed her, demoted her after she complained and violated the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in North Carolina. Beast Industries denied the allegations and called them “deliberate misrepresentations,” according to Dexerto.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is a popular YouTuber with over 475 million subscribers. The lawsuit claims his employee handbook has a section titled “It’s okay for the boys to be childish.” The handbook reportedly also tells employees, “No Does Not Mean No” and “The Amount of hours you work is irrelevant.”
Mavromatis was hired in August 2022 and promoted twice within her first year. Despite being one of the only women in a high-level role at the company, she was excluded from otherwise all-male meetings, the lawsuit alleges. During her time at Beast Industries, Mavromatis and other female employees would raise their concerns about uncomfortable and unwanted treatment from male colleagues to their male supervisors.
In one instance, Mavromatis and other female employees repeatedly told their male supervisor that a producer’s frequent comments about their appearance and close touching made them uncomfortable, the lawsuit claims, but he reportedly ignored their concerns.
On another occasion, Mavromatis claims she asked CEO James Warren why Donaldson would not meet with her about specific projects.
Warren, who is Donaldson’s cousin, told her, “Jimmy gets really awkward around beautiful women. Let’s just say that when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom,” the lawsuit claims.
Mavromatis then “began to wear baggy clothes and baseball caps, so her looks would not potentially negatively impact her employment,” according to the lawsuit.
She was also demeaned in other ways, including by being asked to fetch Donaldson a beer and being told by a male colleague to “shut up” and “stop talking” after asking a question during a staff meeting, the suit claims.
In November 2023, Mavromatis says she went to the company’s HR department, which was run by Donaldson’s mother, Sue Parisher, to file a complaint. Parisher said her complaint would be thoroughly investigated, the suit claims.
However, two months later, the investigation found her claims “unsubstantiated.” She was then demoted to “an isolated, middle-manager position in the struggling and unpopular Merchandise division,” the lawsuit claims.
In January 2025, while working in merchandising, Mavromatis told her supervisor she was pregnant and would need to take leave for the birth of her child. However, the lawsuit claims that the company had no policy in place for maternity leave and did not inform her of her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Mavromatis claims she was expected to perform “substantial and continuous work” over her leave, while in pain and healing from a complex birth.
She also feared retaliation if she said she couldn’t work while on leave, the lawsuit claims, noting she “was on a work conference call while in the labor and delivery room.”
Less than three weeks after she returned from maternity leave, Mavromatis says she was fired. In the lawsuit, she alleges violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act and wrongful termination under North Carolina law.
Mavromatis also has additional discrimination claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which she plans to add to the complaint once she receives a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the complaint. She is asking for an unspecified amount of money.
Beast Industries, which employs 700 people and is based in North Carolina, blasted the lawsuit.
“This clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it,” a spokesperson told Dexerto.
“There is extensive evidence, including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony, that unequivocally refutes her claims. We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us.”
