We’ve had a few stories recently about YouTubers making genuinely fun and interesting content, but this is, uh, not one of those stories. Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson is back in the headlines yet again, this time for something it looks like he actually did do. (Those anti-Israel billboards were hacked and Donaldson didn’t know anything about them, according to his rep.) The man who already got himself in trouble for mistreating contestants on his Squid Game-esque reality show is back to terrorize children—whether actual or overgrown—with his new brand Lunchly. MrBeast started Lunchly, a blatant (and slightly more expensive) Lunchables ripoff with his pals Logan Paul and Olajide Olayinka “KSI” Olatunji, three men that clearly shouldn’t be anywhere near anything involving health and safety.
That didn’t stop them, of course. The bros originally marketed Lunchly as a healthier alternative to the classic boxed lunch, but that claim was thrown into some serious doubt by fellow YouTuber Rosanna Pansino, who bought both products for a little compare-contrast on her own channel. What she found was… mold. Yep! There’s mold all over the Lunchly pizza cheese, which Pansino swears in her video she “did not fake” even though “she saw a picture circulating about mold.” “This is real you guys,” she continued. “This is not safe, especially for kids who are so young they might not know what mold looks like and just eat it.”
In a statement to The A.V. Club, a representative for Lunchly did not deny the presence of mold, but said: “All Lunchly products go through a stringent review process to ensure the quality and safety of its products. That process consists of multiple inspections and approvals, including that of the USDA, before any product can even leave the manufacturing facility.”
Kids probably shouldn’t be eating anything in that box anyway, mold or not. Lunchly consists of tools to make mini pizzas or nachos out of “epic ingredients” (there’s also a turkey stack ’em advertised on their website but Pansino said none of the stores she visited had ever seen it), a MrBeast-branded “Feastables” mini chocolate bar, and a Prime by Logan Paul and KSI “hydration drink.” You know, the same brand Senator Chuck Schumer said could “endanger kids’ health” due its energy drink having the same amount of caffeine as six cans of coke in an FDA hearing last summer. Yeah, we think we’ll stick with the Lunchables.
This story has been updated to include a statement from Lunchly.
English (US) ·