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For the past several weeks, I've been hooked on following the recent controversies regarding Mr. Beast (Ava Kris Tyson, the Amazon Prime show, Lunchy, etc). I've been watching a lot of videos from Rosanna Pansino in particular, as she has made several videos with Dogpack404 regarding Jimmy and his corrupt business practices, obsession with gambling, mold in the Lunchys, etc. Up until now, I’ve supported their videos and respected how outspoken they were against Mr. Beast. The evidence they provided seemed credible.
So when I saw this new video in my feed titled "Mr.Beast KNEW All Along....(1,000+ leaked messages)", which was going to go over messages from what they claim is a telegram Mr. Beast work chat, I clicked on it, wondering what new evidence was going to come out about Ava's actions.
Instead, what I unfortunately got was two people clutching their pearls over mostly cartoons in an attempt to milk more content from a serious situation.
This rant will be me discussing my thoughts and expressing my disappointment on how this investigation is being handled. Before I start, I want to make myself clear: I'm not trying to defend Ava Kris Tyson or Mr.Beast with my criticisms of Rosanna and Pack. It is completely possible to acknowledge the corruption and lack of professionalism of Jimmy and his colleagues while also realizing that Rosanna and Pack have potentially botched their investigation. Also, while I'm mainly criticizing the way they handled this video, there are some good points of legitimate concern they do bring up that I will discuss (with one of the most obvious points being that you shouldn't be talking about hentai and edgy memes in a work chat. That IS, if this is really a work chat).
Now let's begin.
So the first big point they bring up in Ava's messages is her sharing a provocative image of who was allegedly Ivanka Trump when she was 13 years old wearing a see-through dress. Already this video is off to a really weird start as they have not only downloaded what they deem "alleged CP" but are showing themselves reacting to it! They are also sharing censored images of this exact picture not only in the video, but in the thumbnail too! Would this not count as redistribution and viewing of CSEM, going by their logic? Censored CSEM is still CSEM! Also, if you aren't exactly sure if the image you're gawking at is CSEM, then maybe you shouldn't be filming yourselves looking at it!
Now, you might be thinking to yourself "Hey, if you're complaining about the blurred pic in the thumbnail, then why are you still sharing a pic of the thumbnail?"
Guess what? It apparently wasn't even CSEM! In a tweet posted by Dogpack, not long after the video went up, he corrected himself, confirming Ivanka was actually 18 years old in the picture and that it was from an April 2000 issue of GQ, a well known British magazine. He then tries to justify his claims somewhat, saying he was going off of what Ava had claimed about her being 13. However, a lot of people were able to use reverse image search, just like he claimed he did in the video, to find the exact source of this image with relative ease! While I'm glad it wasn't real CSEM, this doesn't change the fact that they still irresponsibly handled what COULD have been real CSEM!
The original video has gone on to get millions of views. Articles about Rosanna sharing their "evidence" to the FBI are being shared everywhere right now. But the coverage the tweet has gotten? Barely anything in comparison as of now (at least from what I've seen).
Another big point they bring up is Jimmy sharing an anime called "Higehiro" with Ava. Dogpack and Rosanna claim the anime is about a romantic relationship between a 26 year old salaryman and a 17 year old high school runaway.
I grew curious about what the anime was really about, so I decided to look it up myself. I'm getting my knowledge mainly from recap videos, looking things up on Google and listening to what fans of the show/manga/light novel have to say. However, judging from what I've seen and heard from those who have actually watched the show, it's definitely not what Rosanna and Dogpack made it out to be.
Higehiro is a slice of life anime about Yoshida, a 26 year old salaryman, taking in a homeless high school girl, Sayu, who turned to prostitution after running away from home to survive.
Here's the recap video I watched which goes over the entire anime.
In Episode 1, Sayu tries to persuade Yoshida to sleep with her to allow her to stay with him. However, he immediately rejects her advances, clearly stating that he is not into her. In the later episodes, it's revealed Sayu turned to prostitution to support herself while living on the streets. The show never makes light out of it and clearly depicts this as a traumatic thing she's dealt with. The whole show revolves around Yoshida helping Sayu get back on her feet while she acknowledges her troubled past and prospects for the future.
It's very clear that Yoshida isn't a predator, but rather a father figure to Sayu. So with some basic research that took no more than an hour, this misinformation can is easily debunked.
These two then continue their moral tirade over some other things they deem concerning with this same logic, such as Ava liking Food Wars, a popular anime from the past decade, some slightly suggestive cosplay and memes of Violet from the Incredibles, a sexy figurine of a character named "Raptillia" from The Rising of the Shield Hero series and some pervy Animal Crossing memes.
It was at this point that I started to grow frustrated with the video. Real people were screwed over by Mr. Beast and his corrupt practices! Ava was accused of grooming a real minor! But at this point people are starting to focus less on the victims and more on just weird anime and art. Dogpack and Rosanna's personal disgust over cartoons is starting to take priority over real victims.
And I know there's going to be people who'll be like "But think of the context! If someone is into that while saying and thinking stuff like Ava did, then it's odd!" But IMO, this argument sounds like a repeat of the "Violent video games make you violent!" rhetoric that was big in the 90's and 2000's. But instead of blaming school shootings on Doom or GTA, we're blaming grooming on anime and cartoons. Same shit, different coat of paint. We're still blaming the perpetrator's actions on everything but the perpetrator. These are all things that were enjoyed and shared by millions of people who were fans of these things for years. Are those people deserving of botched investigations done by Dogpack and Rosanna too? Because if committing crimes was directly correlated to being into these sort of things, you'd be hearing about it way more often, right?
Also, maybe I'm an "icky, edgy" pervert who’s spent too much time online but honestly, I find it silly to see two grown adults clutching their pearls over shit like vore, cartoon porn and CBT in 2024. "Uuuuuuh it's like..... Sexual cannibalism or whatever...." "EATING PEOPLE? That's like, cannibal stuff!" "Uhhhh, do you know what dick flattening is?" Like, yeah, stuff like vore, cartoon porn and CBT are weird. I’m sure most people into those kinks are not going to deny that they are weird. Humans in general are weird. Should Mr. Beast and his crew be discussing these things in a work chat (that is if it is a work chat)? No! But to react to those things as though they're on the same level of severity as actual "alleged" CSEM (which wasn't really CSEM) is deplorable, I consider.
I have mixed feelings over the edgy memes shown there. On one hand, I'm not going to act like a saint when I have this edgy site depicting all sorts of nasty imagery and themes. I would say I'm desensitized to many things. Some of them were honestly pretty tame to me (Garfield vore) or actually funny imo (A-sexual Predator, the Sex goalie). Some were definitely extreme, like "Nick's greedy cummies", the Swastika house in AC, and the 4Chan greentext. However, if you're familiar with 4Chan, you'll know edgy humour like the greentext and swastika house is expected on there, and is specifically designed to be as shocking and offensive as possible just to get a reaction out of you. It really loses a lot of its power once you understand this fact and ignore it. Of course that's not to say that I condone all of these kinds of memes as there are offensive memes designed to unironically push harmful propaganda against various marginalized groups.
On the other hand, there is a time and place for everything. Given that this is allegedly from a work chat, let alone one for a popular family friendly brand, I can agree that neither edgy memes nor hentai should be shared in a work setting. IF this allegation is true, this would definitely showcase the Mr. Beast crew's lack of professionalism and understanding of how to properly run a business.
Eventually, Rosanna and Pack go over some legitimate causes for concern that I can absolutely agree with them on (that is, if these points are true). According to them, the Mr. Beast discord was apparently filled with the same kind of edgy memes and hentai, even though it was open for minors. They also state that Jimmy hired a 13 year old known as "LavaGS" to be his editor (This was also the same minor that Ava was accused of grooming). Lava appearantly also met Jimmy through a giveaway for a Mr. Beast themed knife that Lava himself won, meaning they would have sent a free knife to a 13 year old if this is true! And of course, you shouldn't not be sharing hentai or edgy memes in a supposed work chat, let alone one that's for a "kid-friendly" brand. I do appreciate that they bring these points up....
But what I don't appreciate was that these points are brought up towards the END of the video!! The last few minutes! Which means in order to find any potential evidence of real child endangerment, you have to wade through almost 20 minutes of mostly misinformation and complaining over cartoons! Again, when I say that Dogpack and Rosanna's personal disgust over cartoons is starting to take priority over potential real victims, this is what I mean!
As much as I would have liked to continue to support Rosanna and Dogpack, I've now lost faith in them. I think this video makes them look terrible and can potentially lead to their other claims being brought into question. Because think about it: how is it that they were able to come out about mold in the Lunchys, Jimmy's gambling addiction, corrupt business practices, faked videos, everything about Ava and abysmal living conditions on the set of the Amazon gameshow, but they couldn't take a minute to Google what some of these shows were about? Or an extra minute to find the exact source of the Ivanka pic? It not only makes them look like unreliable narrators, but also reaffirms the critiques people make about them coming off as biased and clout hungry.
And what really pisses me off about this is that, like I mentioned previously, Rosanna is submitting this evidence to the FBI! This would no doubt include the Ivanka pinup and the hentai. They cannot be playing fast and loose with pedophilia accusations, but they might be, as they are submitting this misinformation alongside possibly real evidence! And this could potentially put them at risk of dealing with a slander or libel lawsuit, therefore ruining any credibility they still have! This also means that any legit evidence of Jimmy and his colleagues' wrongdoings could be dismissed and they can get away with these wrongdoings!
At this point, I think it really would be better if Rosanna and Dogpack remain quiet or hand over the investigation to people better suited to conduct it, because this video was handled horribly.