MrBeast’s childhood friend and YouTube collaborator Chris Tyson has addressed rumours that they were removed from the social media star’s team, saying "I'm just going to come and go as I please".
Tyson – who uses any pronouns – regularly appears in MrBeast's videos and recently opened up about their gender journey and experience of receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on social media.
On 6 April, Tyson shared that HR had saved their life, receiving praise for their openness from fans.
“Informed consent HRT saved my and many others' lives,” Tyson tweeted . “The hurdles gnc [gender non-conforming] people have to jump through to get life-saving gender-affirming healthcare in a 1st world country is wild to me.
“Just let people make informed decisions about their own bodies.”
A day later, the content creator shared a photo of themselves smiling in the sun alongside the joyful caption: “It’s never too late, to start being yourself.”
Despite backlash from transphobic trolls, their long-time friend MrBeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – has stood by them, hitting out at haters who suggested that continuing to collaborate with Tyson could jeopardise the MrBeast fanbase.
Australian YouTuber SunnyV2 – real name Lachlan Windross – was one of them, sharing a video on 13 April entitled “Why Chris will soon be a nightmare for MrBeast”. MrBeast wasn’t impressed, responding on Twitter with a withering putdown.
“Yeah, this is getting absurd,” the YouTuber and philanthropist replied. “Chris isn’t my ‘nightmare’ he’s my f**ken friend and things are fine.
“All this transphobia is starting to p**s me off."
Despite this public display of support, rumours circulated online that Tyson had been dropped from the MrBeast team after they didn’t appear in a recent video.
But Tyson has now laid any confusion to rest in a Snapchat stream , clarifying that they’re still part of MrBeast’s team, but wanted to spend more time with their son, Tucker, who is two years old.
Tyson was answering a number of fan questions, including one that read: “Did u also get removed from MrBeast team bc they also keep lying about that.”
They responded: “Nope, I pretty much told Jimmy [MrBeast], just because I want to spend time with Tucker, and he’s travelling a lot, I’m just going to come and go as I please.
“I came to Japan and I left when I pleased, and I went. I don’t know if I can say I went to Mexico. I went to Mexico, and then I came back.”
Tyson announced the birth of their child , Tucker, in 2020.
In January, Tyson said they were stepping back from social media for a time after being criticised for wearing nail polish around Tucker.
“I can take all the jokes and hate comments and stuff, no problem," they tweeted . "But people sending me messages telling me I’m the reason my kid is going to kill himself one day is way too f**king much."
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