James Charles and Tati Westbrook Feud

Overview

The James Charles and Tati Westbrook Feud began when YouTuber and Makeup artist, James Charles, promoted his long-time mentor, Tati Westbrook's competing brand, Sugar Bear Hair, which led to Westbrook posting a video condemning Charles, causing him to loose over two million subscribers in a week. In the video Tati Westbrook claims that Charles is a sexual predator.

Background

On April 22nd, 2019, YouTuber James Charles^[6] posted an Instagram story promoting Sugar Bear Hair's sleep aid vitamins (shown below, left). Shortly after the story was posted beauty vlogger and mentor to James Charles, Tati Westbrook^[7] posted an Instagram story in which she cries and voices her disappointment with an unnamed colleague (shown below, right). Many fans recognized that her disappointment stemmed from Charles' Instagram story, as Sugar Bear is Tati Westbrook's own vitamin brand's competition.

James Charles was quick to apologize for the promotion with a message on Instagram Stories (shown below). He apologized directly to Westbrook and stated that “This weekend I did an Instagram story for sleep vitamins that I’ve been taking because the brand helped me with security when the crowd around me at Coachella became unsafe. I did not accept any money from this post.”

Notable Developments

On May 10th, 2019, Tati Westbrook uploaded a 45 minute video entitled, "BYE SISTER …" which outlines Charles wrongdoings, shaming him for not giving her proper credit for his success and for trying to manipulate straight men into liking him (shown below, left). The video gained over 34 million views and 2.7 million likes in three days. In the video Westbrook says,

"It's really disgusting to manipulate someone's sexuality, especially when they're emerging into adulthood and don't have everything quite figured out. You're using your fame, power, money to play with people's emotions … 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 OK."

That same day, James Charles uploaded an apology video in which he takes full responsibility for the incident (shown below, right). The video gained over 33 million views, 470,000 likes and 2.3 million dislikes in three days.

That day, YouTuber Tea4Real began a live YouTube James Charles vs. Tati Westbrook subscriber count (shown below, left). Many notable celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Tana Mongeau and Shawn Mendes have unsubscribed in three days. On May 10th, YouTuber Spill outlined sexual predator allegations (shown below, right). The video gained over 2.5 million views in four days. Many subscribers unsubscribed due to the sexual predator allegations.

On May 12th, PewDiePie uploaded a video explaining the feud and stated that he didn't understand why Tati Westbrook uploaded a video instead of simply calling Charles privately (shown below, right). The video gained over 8.7 million views and 793,000 likes in a day.

Jeffree Star tweeted, "There's a reason why Nathan banned James Charles from ever coming over to our home again. There's a reason why I haven't seen him since [Tati's] birthday in February. He's a danger to society. Everything Tat said is 100% true." The tweet has since been taken down. On May 12th, Twitter user @sebas_williams^[5] posted a screen shot of the tweet and asked, "genuine question @JeffreeStar ! You mention on April 21 that you miss james. But in this tweet you say since february? Could you clarify this please ❤️ (just curious!!!)" (shown below). The tweet gained over 2,700 likes in a day.

The feud has been covered by numerous media outlets such as BuzzFeed^[1], The Cut^[2], CNN^[3] and Dexerto^[4].

Tati Westbrook's Response

On May 16th, 2019, Tati Westbrook responded to the backlash against James Charles with a video titled, "Why I Did it …" (shown below). The video gained over 11.7 million views and one million likes in a day. In the video she describes how surprised she was that the internet responded to her initial video the way they did. She calls on fans to end the hate against Charles and allow him the space to heal and grow. She claims she never intended to hurt Charles' career the way she did and intended on meeting at a Google office to talk through the recent incidents with Charles, but he declined. She concludes by saying that she will be taking a break from videos and hopes to see the internet move on from the incident and stop making hurtful memes.

Twitter Reactions

On May 10th, Twitter users began reacting to the feud with humorous tweets and videos. That day, Twitter user @emmymhartman posted a video of themself dancing to James Charles' apology (shown below). The tweet gained over 118,900 retweets and 463,700 likes in three days.

The next day, Twitter user @WisseBoot accused Charles of fake crying, comparing it to Laura Lee's apology video (shown below). The tweet gained over 18,600 likes and 4,400 retweets in two days.

Destroying James Charles Palettes

On May 11th, TikTok user kateberger18 decided to paint over their James Charles palette in protest (shown below, left). The video gained over 472,300 likes and 22,400 shares in two days. Many other TikTokkers did the same, two days later, @reanna._.01 posted a similar video (shown below, center). That same day, TikTok user Mike.creates decided to upload a parody of the palette painting videos (shown below, right). The video gained over 4,800 likes in a day.

Twitter users posted pictures of their destroyed or painted over James Charles palettes. Twitter user @FANNESA_88, shared a photo of Shrek painted over the palette with the caption, "Bought the palette a long time ago but after hearing what he did i became so sick of james charles so i changed my palette into shrek themed #jamescharlesiscancelledparty" (shown below). The tweet garnered over 1,000 likes and 200 retweets in two days.

James Charles Responds to Developments

On May 18th, 2019, James Charles^[10] tweeted PewDiePie thanking him for his advice in his video (shown below, left). The tweet received 26,800 likes and 2,100 retweets in two days. That same day, FaZeBanks^[9] Tweeted Tati Westbrook asking, "Hey Tati, @GlamLifeGuru would it be too much to ask to share Halo Beautys sales report over the last month. I think we'd all appreciate/ like to know the impact this scandal had on your products success. If none of it was about vitamins then it really shouldn't matter, right?" (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 22,100 likes and 1,800 retweets in two days.

On May 18th, James Charles uploaded a video titled, "No More Lies" (shown below). The video received 30.5 million views and 1.9 million likes in two days. In the video, Charles addresses and explains every single allegation against him. He addresses Tati's allegations and claims that the majority of what has been said against him has been lies and then shows message screenshots and video to prove it. He explains that he still has love for Tati but voices his disappointment with how Jeffree Star has reacted to the situation.

On May 19th, FaZe Banks revealed the amount of money Tati Westbrook has made since the the controversy began (shown below, left). The video gained over 1.1 million views and 108,000 likes in a day. The same day, PewDiePie posted a second video on James Charles (shown below). The video received over 6.5 million views and 494,000 likes in a day. He addresses many of the weeks developments and defends James Charles.

Tati Westbrook's Copystriking

On May 21st, 2019, Ethan Klein^[11] of h3h3productions tweeted, "Tati may not have monetized her video but she sure is monetizing mine😂" with a screenshot of a copyright strike claimed by Tati Westbrook's YouTube channel over audiovisual content used in his video "Ethan Klein on Tati Westbrook" (show below, left). The tweet gained over 4,000 retweets and 70,800 likes in a day. YouTuber Twitter account @WillyMacShow^[12] also posted a simliar screenshot of a copystrike against his own video (shown below, right). The tweet accumulated over 2,000 likes and 200

On May 22nd, PewDiePie ^[13] replied to Ethan Klein's tweet with the @WillyMacShow tweet and garnered over 400 retweets and 13,500 likes (shown below, left). That day, Twitter users speculated as to whether the strike was automated or manual. Twitter user @grandayy^[14] tweeted, "Copyright strikes can't be automated through Content ID. Only a block without a strike can. So this was manual." (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 300 likes in a day. Both the WillyMacShow video and the h3h3productions video are still available to watch on YouTube.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External Reference