Controversial social media personality and supplement company owner Liver King AKA Brian Johnson shot to popularity in 2021 and 2022. He he started promoting a ‘primal’ way of life. It relied on eating raw meats, training outdoors with minimal equipment and so on. Basically, this lifestyle mimicked a prehistoric human way of life. In a nutshell, he offered miraculous benefits, freedom from modern lifestyle diseases, mental health issues by simply following the ‘ancestral tenets’ of a primal lifestyle.
Needless to say, Liver King successfully sold the gimmick to a large section of uninformed enthusiasts and was also able to increase the sales of his supplement company. According to his own claims, Johnson’s brand ‘Ancestral Supplements LLC made over $100 million in sales in one year. But those with a keen eye and knowledge always suspected foul play.
The gimmick fell apart in one fell swoop when Derek from ‘More Plates More Dates’ released the emails that proved Brian Johnson’s transformation into Liver King was a shockingly well-planned public act and that his physique was indeed a result of heavy steroid use.
Derek revealed that Liver King was spending nearly $11,000 a month on steroids to maintain the muscular and jacked physique. The revelations caused a massive backlash at Liver King and turned a large section of his followers upon him when he admitted to the lies he propagated.
Liver King facing multi-million dollar lawsuits for ‘conning’ people
A recent post on Bloomberg Business’s Instagram handle revealed the struggles of a man names Joe Loney. The post shared Loney’s story and read:
“When Joe Loney discovered Liver King, a shredded fitness influencer known for eating raw organs, he was hooked. By working out and sticking to a primal diet, the 35-year-old Briton believed he could attain the same ripped physique as Brian Johnson. (the influencer’s real name) Beginning in 2021, Loney are a daily steak so rare it was almost raw, taking a break only every two to three months. Then, in December, the king made a YouTube confession: he was taking roughly $11,000 of steroids a month. ‘I felt betrayed,’ Loney says.
Bloomberg report also stated that lawsuits are now piling up against several fitness influencers and not just Liver King.
Derek’s expose in 2022 disillusioned one of Liver King’s followers, a man named Christopher Altamore from New York. He was the first person to file a $25 million lawsuit against Liver King and his brand ‘Ancestral Supplements LLC’ and ‘The Fittest Ever LLC’. Liver King AKA Brian Johnson claimed that his muscular physique was the result of following a primal way of living, particularly in terms of diet.
He promised similar benefits if people consumed the supplements he sold under the Ancestral supplements brand. This false claim is the basis of the lawsuit filed by Altamore. According to a report from New York Post, the lawsuit charged:
“Liver King persuaded millions of consumers to adhere to, or abide by, the Eat Tenet by repeatedly making representations to consumers that his near-perfect physique, and optimal health, were solely attributable to his adoption of the Ancestral Tenets, predominantly the Eat Tenet.”
The big expose brought the Liver King hype train to a screeching halt. However, he is back promoting his brand on social media. In recent months, Johnson announced that he will go back to using TRT and growth hormones once again.
Liver King is nothing more than a representation of a larger problem in the online fitness community. There are several influencers that promise miraculous benefits of following their methods, whose benefits are dubious, to say the least.
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