It’s been about a year since one of the most familiar faces on the wildly popular MrBeast YouTube channel revealed he was undergoing hormone replacement therapy and identifying as a woman.
At the time, MrBeast sidekick Chris Tyson updated the spelling of his name to Kris and began dressing in women’s clothes. Over the weekend, Tyson revealed he has changed his name once again — this time to Ava Kris Tyson.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Sall Grover, founder and CEO of Giggle, and attorney Katherine Deves to discuss Tyson’s transition and how it could impact children.
[Editor’s Note: You can learn more about Megyn’s position on preferred pronouns here.]
Ava Kris Tyson
As a regular on one of the most successful YouTube channels in the world, Tyson sparked rumors last year when he began to present with more feminine features. “MrBeast has got this right hand man… who fully transitioned on camera in front of kids,” Megyn said. “Kids are MrBeast’s core audience.”
After sharing that he was undergoing hormone replacement therapy last spring, Tyson formally announced his ‘transition’ over the summer during an interview with fellow YouTuber Anthony Padilla. “I was so scared of saying ‘I am a woman’ and then instantly hearing, ‘No, you’re not,’” Tyson said at the time. “Because, in my head, I fought with that every day.”
When Padilla noted that Tyson “showed up fully presenting as a woman” in a dress and heels, the influencer responded “I did because I am a woman.” Tyson also revealed during that interview that he was using ‘she/her’ pronouns and had been “fully, like, confident in that decision for over a year now.”
That interview coincided with Tyson changing the spelling of his name from ‘Chris’ to ‘Kris.’ But last week, Tyson updated fans again – revealing his name is now ‘Ava Kris Tyson.’ All of the social media star’s accounts were updated accordingly.
‘I am a Woman’
While Megyn noted Tyson has a more feminine appearance than he once did, she said the language remains jarring. “That ‘I am a woman’ coming from a man makes my skin crawl,” she admitted.
In Glover’s view, the declaration is overly simplistic. “What is ‘living as a woman,’” she asked. “Because that is different in every culture. It is different in every household… Cutting off your penis and then putting on a dress… [is] not living as a woman.”
Giggle, the female-only chat app Glover founded, is currently facing a lawsuit from a trans woman who was denied admittance on the basis of sex. She and Deves are currently fighting that case in an Australian court, and Glover believes the reality is the same for Tyson as it is for the plaintiff who brought the case against her.
“None of these men can live as women because they’re not. It’s that simple,” she said. “I don’t know how many other ways we can say it. I feel like for four years I’ve just been trying to reinvent other ways to say ‘men are not women’… I can’t believe we’re still having this conversation. “
The Impact on Children
Whether it’s Tyson’s involvement with MrBeast’s platform or the non-binary character introduced on the popular children’s program Paw Patrol, Megyn said she worries about the effect this messaging has on kids. “I don’t think on MrBeast they’re going to be talking about the traumatic trauma that your body goes through if you try to engage in this medical engineering,” she said.
Deves agreed and said it is up to parents to, well, parent. “This is where parents have to step in and be extremely vigilant about the media that their children are consuming,” she explained. “You need to let your children’s school know that you do not agree with gender identity ideology, you do not consent to them being taught anything about it.”
She called the trans movement “regressive” because it is “telling children if they don’t adhere to very strict sex stereotypes that they must be the opposite sex,” and she believes parents must be “vigilant” when it comes to what they allow their kids to be exposed to.
“This is where parents really need to step in and have those conversations and be involved in their children’s lives,” Deves concluded. “I mean, it’s up to you to instill your values in your own children, and the only way you do that is by having conversations and spending as much time as you possibly can with them.”
You can check out Megyn’s interview with Grover and Deves by tuning in to episode 773 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.