Linus Tech Tips has responded to workplace harassment allegations made against the company by ex-employee Madison Reeve. The former social media coordinator released a massive Twitter thread this morning, recounting poor working conditions and high expectations during her time at the company.
The LMG subdivision released a statement on Twitter and Sebastian himself shared a comment with The Verge, stating that he was “shocked” and that Reeve’s words were not “consistent” with his version of events. He also claimed that LMG “prides itself on maintaining a safe and inclusive environment,” and will be conducting a thorough internal assessment through the HR team.
Linus Media Group’s CEO, Terren Tong, told The Verge that the company will hire an outside investigator to examine the harassment allegations. The company has confirmed plans to release a proper statement and publish the findings from the investigation at a later date.
Reeve responded to Sebastian’s comments, claiming that he isn’t “shocked” about the allegations themselves, but rather that “someone said something” in public.
I’m baffled to hear about the “shock” of these allegations.
— Madison | Suop (@suuuoppp) August 16, 2023
You’re not shocked that they happened.
You’re shocked that someone said something.
You’re probably shocked because you know evidence for most of these issues is scarce so why would anyone risk their image to speak out.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Reeve worked for Linus Media Group for one year. Before her employment, she won a contest held by LTT and became an instant fan favorite within the community. In July 2022, an anonymous former staff member posted a Glassdoor review of the company, claiming that LMG lacked a proper HR system and noted a power imbalance between employees and higher-ups.
Linus Tech Tips recently faced backlash after Gamer Nexus called out the YouTuber for inaccurate and unethical practices. Sebastian wrote a statement on the LTT forums, and released a video outlining the company’s commitment to improvement. It plans to pause content production for a week and focus on “long-term workflow changes” to prevent these mistakes from happening again.