The first person identified as a possible underage victim of Ava Kris Tyson says he was wrong after initially defending the former Mr. Beast employee.
Tyson, who has been affiliated with the popular YouTube channel since its creation, left the company this week following allegations that the transgender-identifying person had a sexually inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old when he was 20. The two largely communicated online through social media apps and the messaging platform Discord.
The alleged victim, known by the screen name LavaGS, is now 20 years old and initially defended Tyson. He said he was “never exploited or taken advantage of” and called the allegations “massive lies and twisting the truth” in an X post on July 22.
“Kris did nothing wrong,” he wrote in another post. “What’s actually disgusting is you guys twisting things and making me a victim.”
LavaGS then announced on Friday that after reviewing newly unarchived screenshots and messages involving Tyson that he has changed his mind.
“This was 5 or 6 years ago and I thought I had a good memory of the situation but I was wrong,” he said on X. “After reading the chat logs, this stuff was inappropriate and wrong.”
“I spoke based on my memory of the situation and I still do not remember these conversations but they definitely happened,” he continued. “These conversations should not have happened with people at the age I was at the time, I strongly condemn them.”
LavaGS maintained that he does not see himself as a “grooming victim” but stressed that “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,” he wrote.
Tyson, who was accused of sharing porn with minor members of his Discord channel and making sexually suggestive comments, denied the claims.
“I never groomed anyone,” Tyson wrote on July 23 after announcing that he was departing from the media company. ”Seeing recent events 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.”
Mr. Beast creator Jimmy Donaldson took to X on July 24 to address the situation, saying he had taken “immediate action to remove Ava from the company, my channel, and any association with MrBeast.”
“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,” said Donaldson. “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.”
Donaldson has 30.7 million followers on X and is believed to have a net worth of $700 million. His YouTube channel has 306 million subscribers and more than 55 billion views.
