Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 12, 2019, and is being updated as new information regarding the feud between James Charles and Tati Westbrook surfaces.
If you've been anywhere near social media since Friday, May 10, you may already know about the quickly escalating feud leading YouTube beauty vlogger and influencer Tati Westbrook, 37, to upload a scathing 43-minute video saying, "Bye Sister" to fellow YouTuber, model and makeup guru James Charles, 19 (soon to be 20 when his birthday arrives on May 23)..
James, who's been on tour in Australia promoting a pop-up store for his merch, was just spotted in Brisbane airport for the first time since the drama began and lost 3 million YouTube subscribers.
And Tati has just posted a follow-up video titled "Why I Did It ..." and captioned, "Please be kind to one another, I will come back soon."
While most of the tea being poured, sipped and shared is focusing on Tati's tale of James's betrayal, a darker story somehow continues to briefly bubble up from the surface, only to be ignored again — the growing catalog of stories from boys, young men and women who know them, speaking of James as an allegedly relentless sexual predator.
And yet, Tati mentions James's predatory behavior in only a superficial manner — as one in a long list of reasons her friendship with James is now officially canceled — and most of the articles in mainstream media seem to be centered around Tati and James's vitamin drama.
Is this a case of clashing financial interests and collaboration gone wrong, or are there credible "MeToo" stories being ignored because they involve heterosexual male victims and a gay male perpetrator?
Do people hate James Charles, or are they concerned about their brand safety if they continue being associated with him?
Who exactly is accusing James Charles of doing what, and why is he losing YouTube subscribers so quickly?
While we can't answer with certainly at the moment, here are the details we know so far surrounding the feud playing out between Tati Westbrook and James Charles on YouTube and Instagram, as well as accusations alleging James is a sexual predator who specifically, consciously and purposely targets straight men.
1. What led to the current feud between Tati and James?
The drama revolves around disappearing Instagram stories, the first of which was posted by James on April 22, when he took a break from the Coachella festivities to post a since-deleted promo clip for Sugar Bear Hair gummy vitamins, a competitor of Tati's Halo Beauty supplements. In Tati's subsequent Insta story, she didn't mention James directly, but rather said only that she felt lost after having been betrayed by someone she chose not name at the time.
James did what he must have thought was the right thing and offered a public apology to Tati in yet another Insta story.
Tati, it appears, was unimpressed, as her next move was posting her already infamous video breaking ties with her former protege — causing James to rapidly start losing YouTube subscribers to the tune of nearly 2 million followers in just over 24 hours.
"Tati said that she felt 'used',"reports BuzzFeed, "because she and her husband have negotiated deals on James' behalf, have mentored James, and have nurtured James. Tati promoted James' palette on her channel and constantly plugged his Morphe discount code in her videos."
2. Tati's mention of James's predatory behavior
Tati starts her "Bye Sister" with clips of fellow YouTubers goading her into being more direct about who she's upset with and why.
"This is absolutely not a video I ever thought in a million years that I would be making," she says, "but I feel after a lot of thought that it's necessary for me to have a chat with you guys."
She continues to explain why she felt "blind-sided" by James' betrayal.
"We've had plenty of in-person conversations that were at length about other influencers doing the same deal and him not liking Sugar Bear Hair and dragging the other people and being like Tati I'm I'm on your side. Like, 'You've got me,' like, 'I will support you,''Yes, mom,' like, 'You've got my my loyalty.' So I always felt really comfortable with that."
At the 24-minute mark, Tati — who'd just said "felt really comfortable" with James's support — addresses her own experiences regarding James' inappropriate sexual behavior.
"The last phone conversation that James Charles and I had he said some things, telling me about a situation that happened in Seattle at my birthday, and it literally made me want to vomit. Oh my god. You tried to trick a straight man into thinking he's gay — yet again — and somehow, you're the victim. You know, it's really disgusting to manipulate someone's sexuality, especially when they are still, you know, emerging into adulthood and don't quite have everything figured out.
"You are using your fame, your power, your money, to play with people's emotions. You're threatening to ruin them. You're threatening to embarrass them. And you're doing that to have them behave sexually in your favor, even if they're straight. And you know what, that's not okay. That behavior is not okay.
"Whether you're a woman, a man, gay, straight, bi — whatever sexual orientation you are, that is your personal call. It is not someone else's to take. it's not someone else's to play with. It's not someone else's to mess with.
"And how dare you laugh about it and make meme after meme and re-Tweet and this and
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