The feud between beauty vloggers James Charles
and Tati Westbrook caused such a stir that
millions of subscribers seemingly jumped ship
from one to the other.
So what exactly happened?
Here are the deets on the drama between these
YouTube stars.
Sliding into DMs
To fully grasp the scope of the Westbrook
and Charles drama, you have to first understand
how their friendship started.
According to Life & Style, Charles slid into
the beauty vlogger's DMs in 2016 after his
ultra-glam high school yearbook photos went
viral.
She had been vlogging for nearly a decade,
and he was still green to the world of YouTube.
He reportedly told Westbrook that she was
his inspiration and, in turn, she decided
to help him grow a following.
She spent the next three years as Charles'
mentor.
By 2017, the pair were close enough that Westbrook
not only invited Charles to her wedding, but
she trusted him to do her bridal makeup, which
is a huge deal even for brides who don't have
millions of followers!
Westbrook reportedly paid for Charles' trip
because he was a broke teenager, and by 2018,
she was using her Halo Beauty launch party
to shout out her pal.
In turn, he posted an Instagram story showing
off a bottle of her vitamins.
At this point, it seemed like their relationship
was reciprocal, even if Westbrook would later
have regrets.
"It's sad to think that I will never be able
to watch my wedding video without seeing his
face and thinking of him and thinking about
all of the things I hoped our relationship
would be."
Don't swipe up
Westbrook and Charles' feud sparked in the
most Instagram way possible, with an argument
about tiny gummy bear vitamins.
Of course, since this is the world of YouTube
influencers, the whole thing went down at
Coachella.
On April 22nd, 2019, Charles posted an Instagram
story promoting SugarBearHair, and Westbrook
was reportedly livid.
The brand is a direct competitor of Westbrook's
supplement line Halo Beauty, which Charles
allegedly felt uncomfortable promoting to
his young followers, according to Page Six.
Westbrook uploaded a teary-eyed story as a
response and claimed everybody, quote, "uses
who they need to use."
Not long after, Charles publicly apologized
via Instagram.
He claimed SugarBearHair helped him with security
at the festival when the crowd around him
became unsafe.
He reportedly didn't make any money off of
the post and still took Westbrook's vitamins
daily.
In the post, he wrote, in part,
"I did not think about the competition.
I've supported Tati both online and off like
she has done for me and am devastated that
I hurt someone that I truly love and have
endless respect for."
Bye, Sister
Charles' initial apology apparently wasn't
enough for Westbrook.
In early May 2019, the star posted a scathing,
43-minute YouTube video titled "BYE SISTER"
which slammed Charles for a large number of
alleged indiscretions, including the gummy
bear incident.
Westbrook claimed she felt used by Charles
because her husband helped mentor and negotiate
millions of dollars worth of deals for him,
without taking a dime.
She also promoted the influencer's makeup
palette and Morphe discount code on her channel,
and was shocked that Charles claimed she was,
quote, "loving the drama because it's improving
sales."
"I don't want to be friends with you, I don't
want to be associated with you, and I need
to say that very publicly so that this chapter
can just be closed."
Over 40 million people watched Westbrook's
"BYE SISTER" video before it was scrubbed
from her channel.
But nothing on the Internet ever dies.
Ruining a reputation
Westbrook's "BYE SISTER" video was a lot more
salacious than any gripe about hair vitamins
or unreciprocated favors.
The beauty guru made the claim that Charles
had, quote, "tried to trick a straight man
into thinking he's gay," and it made her "want
to vomit" that he would manipulate someone
in that way.
At this point in the feud, no one was exactly
sure who Westbrook was referring to, but the
internet oozed with speculation.
Vox theorized that Westbrook was referencing
a model named Gage Gomez, since the pair reportedly
attended Coachella together.
Not long after the event, Charles tweeted,
then deleted, about an unnamed boy who had,
quote, "played [him for] months."
He called the guy a "disgusting con artist."
Gomez, who inferred that Charles deleted the
tweet because it was both about him and untrue,
posted a video outlining his experience with
the YouTube star.
"So he then unblocked me and continued to
speculate that he didn't know or that he forgot
that I told him that I was straight in the
beginning."
Charles was allegedly sexually aggressive
at Coachella, despite Gomez's repeated rejections.
Gomez claimed that Charles even got emotional
in an attempt to manipulate him into hooking
up.
"Even though I was telling him the whole time
I wasn't into, I guess you could say, experimenting
at that time."
Charles has also apologized for publicly hitting
on Shawn Mendes, but neither of these events
took place at Westbrook's birthday dinner,
like the incident she cited in her video.
The apology video
As two of the most popular beauty vloggers
on YouTube, it's not really surprising that
Westbrook's takedown video about Charles would
go viral almost instantly.
According to Newsweek, Charles subsequently
lost about three million subscribers, including
celebs like Kylie Jenner and Ariana Grande,
dipping from over 16.5 million subscribers
to around 13.8 million.
Although the drop was so enormous there were
channels live-tracking his downfall, as of
June 2019, his subscriber count recovered
and was back up to over 15 million.
Westbrook, on the other hand, essentially
doubled her subscriber count, jumping from
5.9 million to over 10 million subscribers.
It didn't take long for Charles to post an
initial apology video titled "tati."
The star gave us eight, make-up free minutes
of holding back tears.
He apologized to Westbrook and her husband,
the influencers he spoke poorly about on social
media, and for his interactions with other
men.
As far as public apologies go, it was pretty
standard.
He went on to say that in the past he's handled
these situations immaturely.
"I've gone off and tried to pull receipts
or facts or screenshots, and play the victim."
But he insisted he wouldn't do that this time,
he just wanted to apologize.
The video racked up more than 56 million views
before it was removed from his channel.
Jeffree and Tati
Charles and Westbrook weren't alone in their
feud.
Makeup mogul and former Myspace personality
Jeffree Star, who did a video with the pair
on Charles' channel in January 2019, swooped
in to take Westbrook's side.
According to Seventeen, Star was at the birthday
dinner where Charles allegedly hit on a waiter
who Westbrook claimed was straight.
In a now-deleted tweet, the makeup mogul also
made the shocking claim that his boyfriend
allegedly banned Charles from visiting their
home, saying, in part,
"There's a reason why I haven't seen him since
[Westbrook's] birthday in February.
He is a danger to society.
Everything Tati said is 100% true."
Shock of the century, it wasn't 100% true.
Though Star didn't go into why Charles was
allegedly banned from his house, Charles later
revealed in another video that Star accused
him of pressuring his boyfriend's younger
brother, Zach, into sending Snapchat photos.
According to Charles, he and Zach sent about
10 selfies to each other in a harmless exchange.
"He was super super sweet but it was very
clear to me that he was not actually interested,
and the conversation stopped before anything
could even get remotely flirty at all."
Charles later called out Star for harassing
his brother on Twitter, and things got even
more messy.
Wrecking Westbrook
If you thought that 8-minute apology video
was the last you would hear from James Charles,
you don't know anything about YouTubers.
In a bombshell 41-minute video titled "No
More Lies," the star claimed he wasn't erasing
the sentiment of his first apology, however,
his answer to "BYE SISTER" was essentially
a point-by-point rebuttal of Westbrook's video
and Star's public and private claims.
Plus, Charles kept the receipts, text message
screenshots, like a good social media star.
In the video, Charles denied that his SugarBearHair
post was premeditated and slammed Westbrook's
manipulation allegations.
He claimed that on the night of Westbrook's
birthday dinner, the waiter he allegedly hit
on, named Sam Cooke, was the one who actually
initiated their conversation.
Cooke even told Charles he was bisexual, and
the star invited him back to his hotel room
but said he, quote, "didn't have to do anything."
Charles also accused Cooke of pretending to
be gay in order to get him on the phone and,
quote, "illegally record the conversation"
for a video, which was then taken out of context.
"I have never and will never use my fame,
money, or power to manipulate or get any sexual
actions."
Charles called that type of behavior "disgusting"
and said it blew his mind that Tati would
accuse him of such a thing.
According to Newsweek, Westbrook lost around
200,000 subscribers after Charles posted "No
More Lies."
Star walking back
In this convoluted YouTube beauty feud, it
seems there are no winners.
Jeffree Star, who for some reason involved
himself in the drama, eventually walked back
on his comments after Charles posted his second,
receipt-filled video.
Again, Tati's story wasn't exactly 100% true,
nor was it 100% false.
In a video titled "Never Doing This Again,"
the former Myspace personality apologized
for inserting himself into the situation.
Star admitted the accusations he made were
based on rumors, and he owned up to sending
Charles vicious text messages and, quote,
"mishandling" their friendship.
"Even if we weren't close friends anymore,
I should have handled it way differently.
I will never handle a situation like this
again."
The only people losing out on Star's apology
were the tabloids waiting for all the receipts
he promised to deliver, but cheers to a YouTube
star who can admit he's done wrong, even with
the looming fear of cancellation.
Cancelling a tour
Before Westbrook decided to throw down over
gummy vitamins, Charles was already facing
controversy for his unusually elaborate national
tour.
According to Seventeen, the teenage YouTube
star announced his Sisters Tour in late April
with plans to hit around 25 different cities
in the United States, but his ticket prices
where so outrageous that he faced major backlash.
You may wonder what a YouTuber actually does
on tour, anyway.
Apparently, it's not really a whole lot.
Vox reported that Charles planned to sing
and conduct meet-and-greets, but that's about
it.
Tickets ran as high as $500, but the star
bumped the price of VIP spots down to $250
after being ridiculed for the crazy price
tag for simply meeting him.
Ultimately, Charles ended up canceling his
tour in the wake of the Westbrook drama even
though it was almost entirely sold out.
"I made the decision to pull the tour.
This was 100% my decision, okay?
None of the venues pulled out, none of the
brands that were going to be sponsoring it
pulled out."
Charles also wanted to get ahead of any reports
with false claims about why the tour wasn't
happening.
"So the Sisters Tour is not being 'canceled'
because I was 'canceled'.
So Let's make that clear."
Calling a truce
As much as the drama queens in all of us wants
to see clap back video after clap back video,
all good YouTube feuds must come to an end.
As such, Westbrook, Charles, and Star decided
to wave their glowing white highlighter palettes
and call a ceasefire.
Two days after Westbrook posted her "Bye Sister"
video, she said "bye sister" to the drama.
The beauty guru wrote a lengthy Twitter post
claiming that she had been talking to Charles,
quote, "through an intermediary," and that
she wouldn't publicly comment on the situation
any longer.
Of course, that wasn't the final goodbye.
According to Mashable, Westbrook also posted
a now-deleted follow-up video where she claimed
she didn't think feuding with one of the largest
beauty vloggers on YouTube would become national
news.
Regardless, Charles responded to Westbrook's
apology and Star's "Never Doing This Again"
video.
He tweeted that he was, quote, "on board to
move on," and thus the biggest drama YouTube
has seen came to a close.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your
favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
bell so you don't miss a single one.
