Madison reveals experiences working at LMG

[ToboRobot]

Some of these allegations are criminal in nature, and that is beyond problematic.  

What a terrible way to treat people in general, but it seems like the environment condones abhorrent actions.

[Kravatie1]

1 minute ago, Reonu said:

I've been supporting LTT for 7 years. That stops today. This company can go bankrupt for all I care. It's already morally bankrupt anyways.

lol you don't know if anything is true or not.

 

It's just accusations.

 

stop acting unless you know its actually true or not

[Dr. Dornon]

1 hour ago, JoshuaScholar said:

I don't think that 90% of Linus ribbing employees in videos is real.  Men rib each other.  That part is ok.  Where I really saw signs of abuse of power was when Linus told the audience that there's a rule against the audience knowing the name of a newer hire.  That new hires are on probation.  Ouch.  Abusive stuff.

 

A few things:

 

I don't think the Billet story was such a big deal.

 

Linus had a lapse of judgement, and the company was disorganized, everyone will forget it. He's not in charge anymore etc.

 

And maybe Steve managed to put pressure on them to make more accurate videos. That's a GOOD thing.

 

But this is a problem. It's a media group, their appeal is mostly that people have parasocial relationships with them. People LIKE them. Think of them as friends.

 

But it sounds like upper management was limitlessly cruel and allowed their employees to follow suit.

 

It's un-Canadian!

 

And that's not even touching the sexual harassment that wasn't dealt with either.

 

Ouch.

 

Men often treat young women amazingly badly. I know a few who have the worst attitudes you can imagine.  And that's not even counting the nerds who came on to her. I don't understand men and I'm a man myself!  And I don't think we don't want to face how common it is. 

 

This story will make people very uncomfortable.

Part of what I meant by poor treatment. The way he treats some of the new hires made me feel like he thought of them as lower than him and that's just footage on camera that made it past editing. If he feels comfortable mistreating people on camera and putting it in the video, I wouldn't be surprised if treatment is worse behind the scenes.

 

The Billet story started off as a lapse of judgement. It was a crappy thing to do, but could be forgiven. Where it became a bigger issue for me is with Linus' response arguing verbiage (auctioned vs sold), trying to dismiss by trying to make it seem like LMG and BL agreed on a resolution and then BL pointing out that they had not come to an agreement or resolution and that LMG only reached out AFTER the GN video went up, contrary to what Linus wanted everyone to believe.

 

His entire response was tone deaf, deflecting, gaslighting and playing the victim. The only argument he had that held water was wanting GN to reach out beforehand(which he doesn't do, so why should GN be required to?), but that turned out to only be because he wanted to get ahead of the story and try and make GN's claims look illegitimate. His response also didn't address any of the inaccuracy issues and made it seem like the GN video was an unprovoked attack when it was a response to one of HIS employees unprovoked attack on competitors.

 

They aren't some tiny company anymore. You can't blame a current issue on growing pains when you turn down a $100M buyout and have 100+ employees. They aren't 10 guys working out of someone's house anymore.

 

The original GN video wasn't the end all for me. I legitimately saw it as an opportunity for LMG to say "he's right, we're going to fast. We're gonna slow down and work on producing quality content and we're going to fix our screwup with BL".  Instead, we got Linus' response, his inaction, his lying and continued misrepresentation. Pairing that with other comments he's made over the years like the famous $500 line really shows that Linus doesn't care about producing good content, he only cares about producing content that makes him more money.

 

All of that was before these allegations came to light which just made it too much. The blantant mistreat of employees is much worse than bad data or crappy partnerships. I liked LMG and I enjoy many of the personalities there, but it's too late at this point.

[acuteaura]

32 minutes ago, TimedPing said:

From my perspective, Madison is a regular gen Z girl in her mid 20s, still young, fresh, and full of ideas and doubts, and sure having very shaky mental state.

Would you say the same thing about a guy? Especially considering the age of some of the "core" LMG people?

 

This really just reads like textbook sexism when it's a follow up to "should they have hired her".

[Blademaster91]

46 minutes ago, Drazil100 said:

Any other business? probably only a few days. Linus Data Hoarder Sebastion? Who knows? 

The data hoarder that managed to lose a lot of server data at least once.

45 minutes ago, JoshuaScholar said:

Once again, the best thing for the future of LMG would be for no one to have an ego.

If Linus wants to keep managing everything I think theres going to be an ego problem, even though he technically stepped down from being CEO it seems like he did that so he can keep making mistakes without the taking the responsibility for them.

[Doaky]

11 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

They wouldn't have known about the Madison issue by the time the video was done.

 

Also, does anyone seriously think there's going to be anything but lawyer responses to what Madison wrote?

Based on personal experience, absolutely not. 
 

Sexual assault allegations are very serious, lawyer’s won’t touch it without being contacted first. 
 

And based on how smooth brained and angry most LTT fans have been over the existing issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maddison gets harassed so much she leaves most online presence

[Gianluca Angeli]

4 hours ago, Legitsu said:

please stop assuming that the random women on the twitter isn't lieing 

timing is pretty sus so what she was slient for 2 years and picks now to say something?

if anything she said was true any court on the planet would have had a field day 

 

or we really gonna bite for the old 'female victum routine' 

 

If she's lying that's basically her asking for a defamation lawsuit or shit like that. 

 

[JoshuaScholar]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Dornon said:

Part of what I meant by poor treatment. The way he treats some of the new hires made me feel like he thought of them as lower than him and that's just footage on camera that made it past editing. If he feels comfortable mistreating people on camera and putting it in the video, I wouldn't be surprised if treatment is worse behind the scenes.

 

The Billet story started off as a lapse of judgement. It was a crappy thing to do, but could be forgiven. Where it became a bigger issue for me is with Linus' response arguing verbiage (auctioned vs sold), trying to dismiss by trying to make it seem like LMG and BL agreed on a resolution and then BL pointing out that they had not come to an agreement or resolution and that LMG only reached out AFTER the GN video went up, contrary to what Linus wanted everyone to believe.

 

His entire response was tone deaf, deflecting, gaslighting and playing the victim. The only argument he had that held water was wanting GN to reach out beforehand(which he doesn't do, so why should GN be required to?), but that turned out to only be because he wanted to get ahead of the story and try and make GN's claims look illegitimate. His response also didn't address any of the inaccuracy issues and made it seem like the GN video was an unprovoked attack when it was a response to one of HIS employees unprovoked attack on competitors.

 

They aren't some tiny company anymore. You can't blame a current issue on growing pains when you turn down a $100M buyout and have 100+ employees. They aren't 10 guys working out of someone's house anymore.

 

The original GN video wasn't the end all for me. I legitimately saw it as an opportunity for LMG to say "he's right, we're going to fast. We're gonna slow down and work on producing quality content and we're going to fix our screwup with BL".  Instead, we got Linus' response, his inaction, his lying and continued misrepresentation. Pairing that with other comments he's made over the years like the famous $500 line really shows that Linus doesn't care about producing good content, he only cares about producing content that makes him more money.

 

All of that was before these allegations came to light which just made it too much. The blantant mistreat of employees is much worse than bad data or crappy partnerships. I liked LMG and I enjoy many of the personalities there, but it's too late at this point.

On the positive side, their current video is all mea culpa to GN video.

[Absentia13]

Well, I guess this whole situation just got a lot worse.

 

It's impossible to know if all of what she says happened EXACTLY as she said, but there's too much there to say that nothing happened. 

 

I just can't imagine someone sitting in a room with her and saying "you're being a little bitch" or something like that......but I guess it happens. Unfortunate. 

 

The entire situation right now is just depressing. 

[LogicalDrm]

31 minutes ago, TimedPing said:

I don't want to drawn into this drama, but from my perspective as business owner and also have HR position in the company I own, Linus or whoever the HR team is, should really consider everything before hiring Madison.

HR overall has been one section of handling business LMG negledged a long time. In some recent video, Linus said that they have had HR team/dedicated person for about year only. So way after Madison left the company. Before that, IIRC, Yvonne was the lead and all team-leaders would suggest new hires for her to approve before Linus' approval. So in that sense, you are correct, but with Madison, they probably just lacked both resources and knowledge on what to look at/for.

 

Also worth noting that before HR team, Linus used to have interview over lunch. That alone is pretty bad sounding in this subject matter.

 

26 minutes ago, DaytonaDragon said:

Unions exist to steal your money. Neither I nor many of the people I talk with, working at different companies have seen any benefits from being in a union. Only wasting money.

Not here (Finland). Here are benefits from unions for non-members:

• Workers Agreement free to be read by anyone
• Toll-free phone line for questions
• Basic level legal advice for work disagreements and for example interpreting agreements
• Emails to contact to

For paid members:

• Free lawyer services for work place disagreements
• Member discussions via forums or mailing lists
• Events, education, trips etc.
• Coupon codes for various services and entertainment

[mMontana]

37 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

I've been told that Canada is close to European standards when it comes to worker protection. Meaning that you can't fire employee without heavy reasons. Granted, in this case fact that she was young and in experiences, and possibly didn't have anyone to ask for advice about (things that are taught in schools here and told you at first day of your new job).

IMVHO and as far as I know, things are a bit more nuanced than that in Europe.

Labor laws in Europe might seem high level of worker protection, but it's not into the company interest build the worker knowledge about what can and cannot be asked, done or endured. Even if forbid, mobbing, relocations, second level of contract built to give the company leverage for make people do what the company want are there, starting from overassigning task and responsabilities before fullfilling salary level and benefits. As example, six months probation with tasks, responsabilities and obbligations as a team leader, while being paid as a team member or junior team member. At the end "project failed/reqirements not met" letter, then the company had a "free" acting team leader for that time, maybe during some headhunt or internal revision for who's really gonna do the job after the end of the project.

Or relocate the job location 100km away from where it was. Allowed from the contract subscribed at the beginning. And last but not least: after birth labour and pregnancy/mother leave, a mid range management person started from scratch in her office... as a team member at the orders of the former assistant. Brilliant.

 

It happened, it will happen. There are plenty of ways to boss around persons and get away with that, even in worker protection laws. Sometimes, quitting is the designed path for the company to the people they don't want anymore, by making a living hell the work environment for that person.

 

And if asked, while doing something in the grey area "may I have that on writing?" a lot of times the answer might be "stop being that annoying, do what I told you NOW". Oh, by the way: people after quitting or being ceased do not have access anymore to the emails. And corporate emails might be fall under the siege of corporate NDA contract signed at first job interview...

[TimedPing]

3 minutes ago, acuteaura said:

Would you say the same thing about a guy? Especially considering the age of some of the "core" LMG people?

 

This really just reads like textbook sexism when it's a follow up to "should they have hired her".

You should read the following paragraph:

35 minutes ago, TimedPing said:

Despite my managerial position and business owner myself, I born at the same age group with Jake and Madison, and sure thing that our generation share many traits and emotional state, despite the difference of biological parents, country, environment, etc.

I made no sexism approach on my statement, instead I'm pointing my generation having relatable issue all across the spectrum. I raised to be a gentleman by my parents, including my mother that actually invest more in the financial terms in my family and teach me to be a good head of HR in my company. It would be the same as stabbing my own mother back if I talking like a sexist person here. You taking my statement wrongly, thinking I'm some Western HR that treat woman differently from other workforce. 

 

I'm not raised in the western nation where your traditional patriarchy and social norm is the name of the game. 

[TopWargamer]

I understand that LMG's response video was 100% made before Madison released her tweets, but I really want to see Linus and the team address her tweets. Don't address her tweets in a forum post -- tackle it head-on in a standalone LTT video OR (more realistically) have a long-form discussion on the WAN Show.

[mrgerry123]

Comments about the Madison situation appear to be being removed from the apology video. The strategy on it from LMG seems to be ignore it and hope the outrage dies out.

[Mojo-Jojo]

Since this thread is 15 pages long and I can't be arsed to read through it all. So apologies if it's been mentioned before.

IIRC Madison didn't want to elaborate before on why she left. Doesn't anyone think the timing is odd? So there's current drama and suddenly she's willing to divulge on why with very strong accusations?

 

I'm not saying none of it is true, but it is fairly wild accusations and opportunistic timing.

Just now, mrgerry123 said:

Comments about the Madison situation appear to be being removed from the apology video. The strategy on it from LMG seems to be ignore it and hope the outrage dies out.

The Madison situation is separate from the current drama and just adds noise to the discussion. IMO, this is the right approach. Don't you think this entire thread would just have disappeared if they wanted the Madison discussion to go away?

Edited August 16, 2023 by Mojo-Jojo

[Skummel]

39 minutes ago, TimedPing said:

I don't want to drawn into this drama, but from my perspective as business owner and also have HR position in the company I own, Linus or whoever the HR team is, should really consider everything before hiring Madison.

 

Remember that Madison is one of the winners or Asus Extreme Tech update before he worked in LMG? Well at the time, HR have plenty of time to monitor whether Madison is a "good candidate" for LMG employee, whatever their parameters is.

 

From my perspective, Madison is a regular gen Z girl in her mid 20s, still young, fresh, and full of ideas and doubts, and sure having very shaky mental state. HR should considering this before hammering down on her, then asking "allegedly" this weird & silly question and action against her (as per her tweets).

 

Despite my managerial position and business owner myself, I born at the same age group with Jake and Madison, and sure thing that our generation share many traits and emotional state, despite the difference of biological parents, country, environment, etc.

 

If all this allegations from Madison is in fact, true, I can confidently blame LMG HR team to accept her as a employee in the first place, not considering many aspects of (allegedly) bizzare and unrealistic working condition of LMG, and also giving considerable responsibility position to a freshmen.

 

I wish for the best for Madison.

 

This isn´t about if they should have hired her or not. But how she was treated while she was employed. Even if she was not the right fir the position you shouldn't be harrased at work or not given support from your manager when you ask for it. And it's appalling that you as a buisness owner and person that works in HR chooses to attack her here by saying that she is just a young stupid girl that shouldn't have been hired in the first place.

 

Now we don't know everything that happend when she worked there. But she should still not be attacked for coming out with her side of the story. This is how she felt she was treated and how she remembers it.

[Orbital_Aurora]

Could the company be independently audited ?

 

Outside of the legal realm, there has been a lot of things about working conditions / harassment that has been said over the years. As a viewer I think an independent report on the working conditions at LMG to see how all the people that we somewhat care about because they make the channel happen could be something we could reasonably ask for.

 

If there is no evidence, Madison claim would never pass in court, but I do not want to give LMG the benefit of the doubt (companies are not your friends remember) and would like to know what the situation is to decide if I want to continue to watch and support this channel or not.

[LogicalDrm]

1 minute ago, mrgerry123 said:

Comments about the Madison situation appear to be being removed from the apology video. The strategy on it from LMG seems to be ignore it and hope the outrage dies out.

If you mean this thread, then you don't understand how high-level video production works.

 

Imo overall LMG should have waited longer. At the moment the things are hot and fuming, and even those who might be reasonable are too heated to listen properly about anything LMG has to say. They just want official response to ride to ground.

[mMontana]

3 minutes ago, mrgerry123 said:

Comments about the Madison situation appear to be being removed from the apology video. The strategy on it from LMG seems to be ignore it and hope the outrage dies out.

GN video showed proof of allegation. Cannot be denied or ignored. Madison is a whole other game...

[RWxAshley]

If I may offer a potential perspective. Madison is originally from Arizona, and had only recently moved to Canada because of LMG. I'm going to safely assume that as a 20 year old fresh in the country she wasn't fully aware of the ins and outs.

[kalleth]

2 minutes ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

Since this thread is 15 pages long and I can't be arsed to read through it all. So apologies if it's been mentioned before.

IIRC Madison didn't want to elaborate before on why she left. Doesn't anyone think the timing is odd? So there's current drama and suddenly she's willing to divulge on why with very strong accusations?

 

I'm not saying none of it is true, but it is fairly wild accusations and opportunistic timing.

The Madison situation is separate from the current drama and just adds noise to the discussion. IMO, this is the right approach. Don't you think this entire thread would just have disappeared if they wanted the Madison discussion to go away?

The timing is appropriate and understandable for two reasons:

1. The allegations she's making (which are so, so familiar to many of us) are linked to a toxic workplace culture, which is in a way one of the problems that was raised by the original GN post
2. The environment surrounding the original GN accusations mean an environment now exists where she can go public with the bad experiences that she had and not immediately be threatened or dismissed by the community. It provides an environment in which people are finally willing to listen.

Explaining why she left took a lot of stones, and now was absolutely the right time to explain. Well done her.

[RWxAshley]

4 minutes ago, mrgerry123 said:

Comments about the Madison situation appear to be being removed from the apology video. The strategy on it from LMG seems to be ignore it and hope the outrage dies out.

Most likely scheduled upload that took all of yesterday to produce, and finalize for upload specifically in the morning so everyone would see it first thing. They wouldn't have time to even read Madison's statements given that most aren't even awake right now in their timezone, and we won't hear anything until way later today, or some time tomorrow. At least I won't expect an official response until then.

[Gianluca Angeli]

3 minutes ago, mMontana said:

GN video showed proof of allegation. Cannot be denied or ignored. Madison is a whole other game...

it doesn't mean that you should delete comments. 

[mrgerry123]

2 minutes ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

The Madison situation is separate from the current drama and just adds noise to the discussion. IMO, this is the right approach. Don't you think this entire thread would just have disappeared if they wanted the Madison discussion to go away?

Removing a huge thread on the forum (with the discussion largely duplicated on reddit anyway) is very different to removing a few comments on a youtube video which will be viewed by a far broader audience than the hardcore people on here. My implication was it was about limiting the reach of those allegations to their wider audience.

 

I wasn't saying that they should be combining the two in the discussion and anyway the video would have been finalized well before the allegations were posted. I am just commenting relevant information to this thread.

[avg123]

unrolled thread of everything madison said:

 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html