If they implement those "you must do this for us for this long"-kinda contracts, they will just cook themselves man. Ain't nobody wanna work a 9 to 5 with a lash at their back.
Scandal? Nothing about this is a scandal, you realize how much money the owners of donut shell out to make the videos they do? Investors matter more than the person in front of the camera, that’s just reality. Most people also dont have the money to compete with the content these investors/owners can. Some people do manage with a camera and their face using their personality, a bit of luck, and knowing what to focus content on. What people who follow james over to his new channel are going to realize is he basically got some brand endorsements and will be doing advertisements masquerading as content, and from what brands he mentioned in that first video it wont have much to do with cars despite the “speeed” name. My guess is he sees it as a building block, and will use the money he makes(which would not have been possible without the exposure donut gave him) and get back to car focused content.