Last night, at approximately 2AM ET, a former employee, Madison Reeve, posted a thread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, accusing Linus Media Group of cultivating a toxic work environment and encouraging a work culture that was detrimental to her health as well as sexual harassment directed at her by Linus Media Group employees.
“I chose to quit my role at LTT because it, and the working environment I was facing, were ruining my mental health,” her statement begins. “My work was called ‘dogshit’ I was called ‘incompetent’. When I would reach out to managers and try to get help with these situations, I would be told to ‘put on my big girl pants’ and be ‘more assertive’.”
Reeve went on to accuse the company of barring her from videos after she reported being “grabbed multiple times in the office” and being told to “calm my tits” and “stop being such a bitch.”
Madisons’ thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
(Content warning: self harm)
“My work was called ‘dogshit’ I was called ‘incompetent’.” Is this really news? While hurtful and not cool to tell somebody. Im sure a million a people think similar things about a co-worker everyday. This is classic toxic environment and time to leave. If there’s issues like sexual harassment, she needs to get a lawyer. Makes me wonder if there’s going to be a " You probably heard some rumors…" On LTT
Thinking it and saying it are two separate things. One is just the day to day frustrations of working with other human beings, the other is contributing to a toxic work environment that just so happens to target a woman in a boy’s club of a company within a boy’s club of an industry.
I kindly ask you to read things fully. Even disregarding how dismissive you are for victims of a terrible workplace like this, she specifically mentions how this toxicity messed with her visa status. “Just leave bro” is almost never a worthwhile sentiment tbh
A popular tech YouTube company is outed as an abusive work environment that does nothing about sexual harassment some employees face. There’s news reported about far more insignificant shit, I think we can consider this newsworthy.
Read the thread in full, it’s much worse than The Verge makes it out to be - that was actually one of my contentions with this article when posting.
This is a naive world view. Working in a toxic environment is such a drain on you already. And then if you are in a field that is hard to break in to, you worry causing any issues will get you blackballed. And you often blame yourself and truly start to believe it is you who is doing bad. And getting a lawyer and suing is usually a fucking stressful nightmare. I have these huge boxes full of paperwork that I’ve filled out over the past few years and have to keep. I will randomly need some of them. And I’ll randomly be notified to do even more shit. And it drags on for years. And my stuff is small fry compared to going up against massive company. Fucking paperwork gives me anxiety at this point.
Then you have to think about the rabid fan base that will be sending her death threats. Doxing her. Etc. All because they decided Linus is too cool he has all the computer shit.
It’s easy to belittle their suffering like this, saying they should have left earlier. But there is always a back story to how people getting bullied end up getting victimized longer than they should. If you gave Madison’s story more than a cursory look, you would realize that all the classic elements of abusive entrapment were there.
When she accepted the job at LMG, she had jeopardized her visa status in the US and was more or less starting from scratch in a very expensive city in Canada. You would expect the employer to be considerate and supportive of such employees. But LMG insisted that she cancel her patreon account and on representing her (which she says they didn’t do at all). They insisted on taking a cut from her earnings too.
And like many other sexual harassment victims, she wasn’t in a position to walk away like you say. LMG apparently gaslighted her and made vague threats. They certainly had the power to ruin her life with their somewhat mindless fanbase - and she was right to fear it. Leaving the company without another job would have probably ended her up in the streets - forget lawyering up. I honestly don’t think employees in her situation can afford to hire lawyers.
I don’t want to completely believe her words because it’s still hearsay. That said, the evidence in the public is pointing more to the possibility that she may be telling the truth. But it doesn’t help when people just dismiss her saying that she should have stood up for herself. You simply don’t understand the position a victim of a vitriolic workplace finds themselves in.
I was gonna say I would take what she says with a pinch of salt since she comes across as a drama queen (I literally do not/did not know her outside of the LTT videos), but then an ex-LTT staff member (Colin?) backed her up. It’s now not just an ex employee with an axe to grind.
When I read her thread, the first thing that came to mind was that in addition to whatever labor rights claims she could have, there’s a clear potential claim of promissory estoppel with regard to her move back to Canada and some of the statements made about how LMG would support her independent efforts.
It doesn’t look good for LMG, even with the bare minimum information out there. But honestly, Madison should be more worried than LMG. A sub group of their fan base doesn’t seem too bothered by morality or legality - no matter what stance LMG itself takes. There are stories floating around that they bullied a 10 year old youtuber into suicide and his mother followed suit because she couldn’t take the agony. They say that Linus tried to discourage them, but they did it anyway. I don’t know how true this is. But if it is true, Madison is in for a ride. The only advantage now is that there will be some around to fight back from her side. I’m not surprised that she was hesitant to speak up earlier.