Liver King Secretly Used Steroids to Promote Supplement Companies, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action alleges Brian Johnson, more popularly known as fitness influencer “Liver King,” falsely claimed he achieved his muscular physique by adhering to a raw meat and organ diet while secretly using steroids to attain his build.

According to the 25-page lawsuit, Liver King is a character designed by Johnson, who has promoted a “cult-like” and “implausible” regimen he calls the “Nine Ancestral Tenets” to millions of followers through his Instagram, TikTok and YouTube profiles since August 2021. Many of the videos feature a shirtless Liver King consuming large portions of raw meat, as called for by the second ancestral tenet, entitled “Eat,” the filing says.

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Notably, Liver King urged consumers, whom he dubbed “Primals,” to follow his ancestral diet by eating “ground organs including liver, spleen, pancreas, heart, and kidney” and “raw bull testicles, raw sweet bread, or raw heart,” the case relays.

However, a November 2022 YouTube documentary exposed emails between Liver King and bodybuilder “Vigorous Steve” dating back to June 2021 that revealed the influencer’s plan to launch an elaborate advertising scheme to promote his supplement companies, Ancestral Supplements and The Fittest, the lawsuit says.

Instead of marketing the supplement products directly to consumers, Liver King distanced himself from his companies and focused on persuading customers to abide by the Eat Tenet, the complaint argues. Once Primals realized the “dangerous and life-threatening diet” was unsustainable, hyperlinks on LiverKing.com would direct them to Johnson’s supplement companies, which sell capsules of freeze-dried raw meat and organs, the filing contends.

The emails also revealed that before launching his marketing scheme, Liver King had been experimenting with steroids “to build his physique and to increase his appeal to consumers,” the suit argues. Per the case, Liver King continued to use performance-enhancing drugs until his routine usage was exposed in late November 2022.

By insisting that his physique and health were solely attributed to his strict adherence to the Ancestral Tenets and repeatedly denying any use of steroids, Liver King deceived “vulnerable and health-conscious” consumers who believed his misrepresentations, the complaint argues.

“... [A] large portion of consumers who relied on Defendant’s misrepresentations, and consumed raw meat and other organs, suffered severe and other food borne illnesses,” the filing reads.

The lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who purchased the following Ancestral Supplements or The Fittest products at stores within New York or ordered the products for delivery into the state:

• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Liver;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Organs;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Bone Marrow;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Thyroid;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Living Collagen;
• Ancestral Supplements MOFO: Male Optimization Formula with Grass Fed Beef Organs;
• Ancestral Supplements FEM: Femail Enhancement Mixture;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Adrenal;
• Ancestral Supplements Wild Caught Fish Eggs;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Brain;
• Ancestral Supplements Ancestral Minerals;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Tallow;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Colostrum;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Kidney;
• Ancestral Supplements Blood Vitality;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Ovine (Sheep) Thymus;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Bovine Tracheal Cartilage;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Heart;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Intestines;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Pancreas;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Lung;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Spleen;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Living Bone;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Gallbladder;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Prostate;
• Ancestral Supplements Grass Fed Beef Placenta;
• The Fittest Whole Feast;
• The Fittest Liver King Bar;
• The Fittest King;
• The Fittest Queen;
• The Fittest Honor;
• The Fittest Ignite;
• The Fittest Charge;
• The Fittest Armor;
• The Fittest Fuel; and
• The Fittest Rest.

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