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)
All good things must come to an end.
And also Linus Tech Tips.
I really don’t understand how people have gone this long without realising that Linus and the company lost any morals they had (if any) a long time ago for the sake of profit. In my opinion Linus is just another greedy capitalist who treats his employees like shit and only cares about profit.
I would’ve expected more people to have at least noticed that the videos are pretty low-quality in terms of actual substance when you look past the professional coat of paint, and it’s been that way for a loooong time.
50% of the entire world has lower than average intelligence. If just 1% of those idiots gravitate towards a single person, that’s 40m people.
I think 90% of his following is in the age range of 12-16. Which might also explain how he made a screwdriver into a “thing.”
50% of the entire world has lower than average intelligence
that’s the median which doesn’t always equate the average.
I think it is in the similar way where we and the people idolize politicians. We don’t see it until it is way too late.
I have watched may be 2 of his videos before this, despite youtube recommending them all the time. Somehow, those videos that I did see didn’t give me the impression that they were genuine or decent. How do I know that? I don’t know - it’s like a feeling. I have seen other youtubers with less followers, whose videos exude hard work and passion. They are enough to get you hooked on subjects you weren’t even interested in the first place. When did people lose the ability to feel the character of the people they see?
I don’t think they will end.
I do hope to LMG to unionize as a minimum and that the CEO does a lot of changes in the culture of the company.
There is the new ceo and he has only been there about 2 months. I do feel a little bad for him inheriting such a dumpster fire of Linus’ making.
Sorry to hear that Madison was forced out by such shitty behavior. If these accusations are true there should be consequences for those involved.
It is crazy that Madison held on to all that for 2 years!
I hope a real independent party looks into all the accusations, while also having the local labor dept. and the like involved in audits. While also looking into other employee complaints.
We shall see what comes of the final investagations, it may take years…
Here’s a video from an all-hands meeting the day after she quit. (Reddit, sorry.)
The following is a transcript if you’d rather avoid Reddit:
(speaker 1, Linus) So we called this meeting because it’s come to our attention that we need to have a quick chat about the best way to handle HR related feedback and rumors. We won’t be giving any names for what I hope are extraordinarily obvious reasons, but what we can do is give you the following guidelines for problem solving and conflict resolution.
Sorry that this is all boring and corporate, but here we are. Number one, always stand up for what’s right. We’re only a team as long as we’re all working together and working for each other. That’s the most important one. Number two, always reflect on your own personal experiences and use your common sense. Few things in life are truly black and white. Number three, always wait to hear both sides of a story before passing your own judgment. Be cautious when you know that one side is bound by legal and ethical disclosure guidelines, when the other is not. Carefully consider what it says about the character of someone who would engage in that type of gossip against someone who has no power to defend themselves.
Number four, always encourage openness and transparency. If you have a problem, you need to speak up. We want to fix it. If you receive feedback about somebody else at this company, the first response is, have you spoken with this person? Followed closely by, you need to speak with this person. We don’t solve interpersonal issues here, or really anywhere in your life, if you wish to live in a drama free zone, by engaging in water cooler politicking. So, if for any reason that individual is not comfortable approaching the person they’re having a conflict with, we have a chain that they’re supposed to follow.
So first, you advise them to take the problem to their manager. Followed by me or Yvonne, followed by our third party HR firm. I hope that you all trust that we’re here to make this a safe, fun, and productive workplace, and we won’t tolerate mistreatment of any of our team members.
If you have any reason to believe otherwise, then I refer you again to point number four, which is to address the issue with the individual directly, or bring it to me or Yvonne, or bring it to our third party HR firm. Since I’m not at liberty to share any details about what occurred, uh, all I can do is ask that you trust me and Yvonne.
Um, some of you know us very well, I’ve been here a very long time, um, some of you have not been here for as long, but I like to think that whether you’ve been here for nine years or nine days, you’re here for a reason and you believe that we are utmost to run this company with integrity and compassion.
Um, We can’t solve problems we don’t know about though, so on that note, I’d like to invite anyone who has concerns about a fellow team member or about a manager to submit their feedback either by speaking with their manager, me or Yvonne directly, or if you would prefer to provide your feedback anonymously, we have an option for that as well.
It’s the manager and co-worker feedback form. Uh, Yvonne, if you’re not aware of it - show of hands who is not aware of it? Hey, a lot of people aren’t aware of it. Good, so now we all know. There’s an anonymous form, if for whatever reason you’re not comfortable either talking to me me or Yvonne directly about it - and that’s okay, that’s fine, we understand, that’s why we have these options - Yvonne’s gonna post it in the general chat.
It’s a safe space to provide us ideas for improvement, or if you’re consumed by the holiday spirit and you want to say nice things, you can do that too. Does anybody else have any questions?
Not a single question? Wow, that must have been a really good speech.
(speaker 2, James) You gonna dance on that table, or just stand on it?
(speaker 1, Linus) That’s it! So, um, Yvonne, did you have anything you wanted to add?
(speaker 3, Yvonne) (inaudible) Somebody said (inaudible) if you guys want to sanitize your hands, help yourself with free (inaudible)?
(speaker 1, Linus) Yeah, that was actually just totally random timing. It came up the stairs a moment ago. Dennis is on it. Alright. Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful and, uh, productive rest of your day. And weekend.
And for those that prefer old reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/15t1mzn/mandatory_meeting_the_after_madisons_departure/?rdt=35142
If you read that full thread it sounds like someone who was let go from a place I worked years ago and just rings of serious mental health concerns. Slicing open your leg so you go to the ER to avoid going to work is not a sign that someone is of sound mind. All accusations need to be taken seriously and explored regardless given their severity, but I also seriously hope she can get help.
Doubt you’d be saying this if you had ever personally been subjected to workplace harassment of the same endurance and severity.
You’re mixing up chicken and egg here. Victim blaming is a core component of the fucking nightmare of workplace harassment.
I don’t think this take is accurate at all. Her actions in that thread appear (to me) entirely as a result of her environment, and honestly there is no basis for the idea she is not of sound mind. The victim blaming is really offputting.
If they’re true, it’s more than likely this kind of abuse was happening throughout the organization and continued up until these allegations, so I’m glad she came out with them.
Taking concern for someone’s well being when it is quite clearly not in a good place has very little to do with the accusations being levied. I hope the right people are at least aware of that and are reaching out to her. I said in my reply the accusations need to be explored.
Good for you to delete that trashy comment on kbin here. For the record this user, https://kbin.social/u/EnderWi99in , went straight for victim blaming. Users like this run kbin.social at risk of being defederated from the rest of lemmy, your behavior is not tolerated.
To be honest, I had a similar experience in a workplace, and I definitely did not have the guts to post it before reading your comment.
It is important to take all accusations seriously, but it is also important to verify.
I have seen baseless accusations getting reported and shared on my previous workplace. It was made to sound like a living hell, and frankly you would have needed to be on a psychotic break to experience it like this. This same employee had pledged on their first day of work to print a chart of conduct and equality that would bind us all. It was very weird to be honest. Unfortunately some people saw the articles and believed every words and felt “betrayed” by my old bosses.
Anyway, here’s a disclaimer because everytime I post an anecdote encouraging to be diligent I get replies telling me I am assuming this or that. Let me be clear, I believe Madisson and I would be very surprised if she wasn’t abused considering everything. But still, I like to verify, we must always verify. In this case, it means waiting for further development. You can encourage and support the supposed victim while simultaneously not jump to the throat of the accused.
I agree, thank you for putting into words what most people keep silent
I appreciate their narrative, and I’m glad they’ve detailed everything as experienced. But given the totality of their recollection, and the reactions, and the responses, they’re clearly somebody who takes too extremes.
A full investigation must be done, and the report probably won’t be fully published but whatever is available should be published.
In these public discourses, where one side legally cannot respond at all, we will get a skewed view of things. So we have to take those secondary indicators into account when interpreting. What was the intent behind the messaging, what was the effect of the messaging, what was the timing of the messaging, what are the incentives of the parties at play.
Bad things happen to good people. Bad things can happen to dramatic people. Bad things can happen to good dramatic people.
Honestly, I don’t care if people love or hate LTT. It’s just a tech entertainment channel. I would love more people to have the critical thinking tools available to them, to interpret future events, more reasonably, without leaping to conclusions
“on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter”
I’m sick and tired of reading this sentence…
LTT produced some rather entertaining videos over the years, but for a long time it’s been just that without any substance. I’ll be okay without their videos showing up in my YT recommendations.
I’m sick and tired of reading this sentence…
Me too, but when I think about it, I realize its necessity
I think it would be better if everyone just yeeted to Mastodon, but maybe it is.
