Linus Tech Tips

I'll start with: I believe Madison.

I honestly did not even know that she had left, so all of this is news to me. I assumed that she went into a role that suited what she wanted to do (like production or editing or something with no significant on camera time), and was still there. I usually avoid following anything so closely that I'm aware of whatever drama they get into. Which isn't to imply that Madison's experience is mere drama, because it's not. This is an egregious HR violation on all fronts, and bluntly, if Madison still has any evidence of any of this, a lawyer would do well to pick up her case at no cost to Madison; as far as I'm concerned, with any level of evidence, especially right now with the PR nightmare they're currently weathering, they'll want to settle quickly (if they have any sense left in their heads whatsoever).... And Madison can walk away with a very reasonable pay off for all this mental anguish.

Of course, money doesn't un-do the fact that it happened.

On the surface, to me, this looks like LMG hired Madison to appease the masses, partly evidenced by the fact that he announced that he had done so before she was even made aware that they were interested in bringing her on board, which seems to be a trend with Linus now - saying things have happened when he simply rubber stamps the approval to go ahead and start the process.... Then "allowed" her to appear on camera enough to show that yes, she does work here... Then as the hype from fans died down and stopped being a benefit to the company, slowly berated her into leaving quietly so schmucks like me (anyone that's not so dedicated that they read the LTT forums daily), are unaware, and they don't lose viewers.

The workload described, at first didn't sound too bad, busy, sure, but not bad. Some Twitter posts, FB posts, a few tiktoks daily... Yeah ok. That's a fairly reasonable bar to set, a little high IMO, but ok.... Then she went on. And on.... And on.... What the fuck? I get the idea that it's "only social media" so some think it's "not really like working" (which I don't agree with, I just understand why people think that), since managing your own social media is fairly trivial, but when managing it for someone else, you have to constantly check yourself and consider "is this me saying it? Or is this the right tone and perspective for what the company would say?" Because if you say the wrong thing, you're reprimanded, or fired. That kind of mental gymnastics is rough; and having to do that for a dozen posts a day is a lot of work to accomplish alone, and you're probably going to make some mistakes unless you can bounce the posts off of someone like a long term employee or manager to make sure that the message isn't straying from the brand you represent.

I've personally been in plenty of scenarios where I've been over worked. It happens. When being overworked is basically your job duties, that's unreasonable in every way.

On top of that the dismissive and demeaning treatment isn't going to help. I'm not surprised that Madison noped the fuck out, and it's sad that happened, and more sad that she felt that she shouldn't even say anything. It's unsurprising that she left and that she had such a major impact to her mental health by being there... Honestly, it's almost surprising that she stayed as long as she did.... And this isn't even addressing the sexual misconduct. I know for me, when I think "sexual assault" I'm thinking the worst case scenario, and bluntly, some of the comments that she relays (like "you've never gotten drunk with us") makes me think that could have happened... But it's not exclusive to that. This is sexual assault. She was sexually harassed and sexually assaulted by staff and bluntly, I hope she names and shames those who were involved. This is unacceptable in any and every way in the workplace and everywhere else. Madison's gender, sexual orientation, preferences, history, everything, is entirely personal, and discussions of such things in a workplace is completely unacceptable. If she wanted to offer up such information of her own volition, sure, but berating her about it, and harassing or demeaning her about it is completely unwelcome both socially, and legally.

IMO, Madison has a legal case if she ever chooses to pursue it.... I think she should but I understand why she hasn't, and isn't.

As for LTT and LMG, I'm extremely disappointed that Madison was set up to fail like this. I get that it's a bit of a boys locker room, where most of the staff are "one of the guys" regardless of who they are or what gender they are, and ribbing is part of that. Clearly this was above and beyond it and from what people said to Madison after she left, her treatment was worse than most.... Well beyond a good ribbing, and others could tell. Anyone who participates in ribbing among friends can recognise when they've gone too far. IMO, it was clear that they had, and they just kept doing it. No part of that is ok. The staff then took it further and further into sexual harassment and assault, and the management team was complacent. This is wholly unacceptable on LMG's side. Their behaviour is reprehensible.

I hope Madison is doing better. I'll probably track down her twitch and throw her a sub, because she deserves it, and never deserved to be treated the way she was. I don't know what she's doing now, but I wish her all the success in the world.