News broke this week that YouTuber Jimmy 'MrBeast' Donaldson has filed a lawsuit against his brand of burgers. MrBeast Burger's operating company, Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC), has now responded to the lawsuit, accusing the star of "bullying tactics" and a "meritless" lawsuit.

VDC issued a statement to the Daily Mail in which it said, "The complaint is full of false statements and inaccuracies and is a flimsy attempt to distract from the breach of contract between the parties, Mr. Donaldson and Beast Investments."

It describes the various allegations in the lawsuit as "false, defamatory statements" and states that the real story here is that Mr. Beast wanted a bigger piece of the pie and when he did not get it, ordered his lawyer to go into Beast Mode.

"Mr. Donaldson recently attempted to negotiate a new deal for his own financial gain," the VDC statement said." When the VDC refused to accede to his bullying tactics of ceding much of the company to him, he filed this adverse and unsubstantiated lawsuit in an attempt to undermine the Mr. Beastburger brand and terminate existing contractual obligations without cause."

Notably, MrBeast's lawsuit makes the somewhat extraordinary claim that Donaldson has not received "a dime" from this very popular business, despite the fact that more than 1,000 restaurants in the US alone offer the product. The reality of this situation will be revealed in court. However, the main theme of this lawsuit is the wider reputational damage to the MrBeast brand through what the YouTubers claim is a defective product.

VDC makes a wild claim here, stating that Mr. Beast has benefited greatly from Mr. Beast Burger's publicity in recent years." Mr. Donaldson's notoriety has grown exponentially over the life of the Mr. Beast Burger brand, thanks in part to the Mr. Beast Burger brand itself."

That seems rather implausible. Mr. Beast began streaming in 2012 and first achieved viral fame in 2017. Since then, he has produced hit after hit, and whether you love him or hate him, no one can deny that the man knows how to attract a large audience. In fact, the Mr. Beastburger concept worked because, for whatever reason, many people responded favorably to him.

Last month, Mr. Beast announced in a series of tweets, now deleted, that he was "leaving Mr. Beast Burgers" and that all of his partner restaurants would cease operations. At the time, Mr. Beast cited quality control as the reason and said it would focus on its new "Feastables" snack series. However, the Mr. Beast Burger website remains open and the burgers are still available for sale. Mr. Beast's lawsuit asks the court to, among other things, shut down Mr. Beast Burgers.

"We had hoped that Mr. Donaldson would act honorably. Instead, he has put greed above his words and the truth, and he will face the consequences in court if the VDC files a claim against him."

"On the other hand, it is business as usual for Mr. Beast Burger, [...]. VDC looks forward to being vindicated in court.

Mr. Beast's representatives have been contacted for comment.