Dramaggedon 2019

James Charles vs Tati Westbrook

*snap*

Background

A Quick Glossary

For those unaware of anything regarding this situation, here are some terms that will come up frequently in case you don’t know what they mean, and some abbreviations I use:�

• MUA - Make-Up Artist
• Sisters - What James Charles calls his subscribers
• Garbage Zamoron, Gazpacho Zamboni, Garbanzo Zeppelin, Graffiti Zucchini, Gargoyle Zapada, etc. - other names for Gabriel Zamora
• JC - James Charles
• J* - Jeffree Star

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• Tea - Drama
• Receipts - Proof something happened
• Influencer - Someone who is relevant on social media and has a decent sized following, typically YouTube in this case
• Tl;dr & tl;dw - Too long; don’t/didn’t read, too long; didn’t watch
• SBH - Sugar Bear Hair
• And I oop-/Anna ou - shock

The Main Players:

Tati and James

James Charles

• Charles is most known for his YouTube channel focusing on makeup which he launched on December 1, 2015.
• At its peak, he had around 16.6 million subscribers.
• On October 11, 2016, at the age of seventeen, Charles became the first male spokesmodel for cosmetics brand CoverGirl.
• He also first gained popularity due to his high school prom photos, though the reason they became popular was later proven to be fake.

Tati Westbrook

• Tati began her career when she launched a YouTube channel named 'GlamLifeGuru' on November 7th, 2010. She renamed the channel later into Tati.
• She currently has nearly 10 million subscribers and climbing.
• She and her husband James operate Halo Beauty, which provides hair, skin and nail vitamins.
• She and her husband have been helping James with his career from the start.

Other Key Players

Gabriel Zamora

• Another influencer and MUA
• Inserted himself into the situation
• Some consider him the arsonist to the fire that is this debacle

Nikita Dragun

• Another influencer and MUA
• Did a video with James that relates to the situation
• Later dropped some receipts regarding the Coachella situation

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Jeffree Star

• Another influencer and MUA
• His merch company, Killer Merch, is in charge of James’ Sisters Apparel
• Has his own tea on the situation

Sugar Bear Hair

• Halo Beauty’s direct competitor
• The straw that broke the camel’s back

So, what’s the tea?

James Charles promotes Sugar Bear Hair, Tati responds, Gabriel Zamora comments.

• James and Tati have been friends for a long time, and he had promised her he would not promote her direct competitor.
• He ends up doing so during Coachella, claiming that Sugar Bear Hair had helped him with “security.” He promotes the brand on his Instagram story.
• Tati posts on her Instagram story about how she feels betrayed and lonely in the beauty community -- little do we know this goes deeper than vitamins.
• James posts an apology to Tati on his Instagram story. He also claims that he did not receive any monetary payments for the promotion.
• Gabriel Zamora decides he should butt in and basically calls out Tati for just “crying over vitamins on the internet.”
• Tati then posts a 45 minute video on her channel exposing James Charles for much more than betraying her trust by promoting a competing brand.

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Tati Westbrook’s “BYE SISTER…” - A TL;DW

• She wanted to deal with it privately but Gabriel Zamora calling her out made her take it public.
• Says that James has changed since he got rich and famous and is surrounded by people who can't ground him. She wanted to be that for him but he didn't hear her. She knew he was dramatic and always needed to get his way but figured he's young and he'd grow out of it.
• Tati understands people saying she should deal with it in private but she wants to publicly share that she know longer wants to be associated with JC.
• James was talking to drama channels behind her back. His apology was all about image control and he didn't actually care about her feelings.
• JC contacted her years ago saying she was his inspiration. She wanted to help him out because a lot of people in the industry didn't support him, even people who are his friends now.
• Tati's husband James helped him with contracts and his image after his scandals. They helped him monetise his videos. JC never apologised to James even though Halo belongs to both of them. They negotiated a million dollar contract with someone else than Morphe (a makeup company that James created a palette with) so that he was in a better spot to negotiate with Morphe, ultimately getting him a better deal.

Credits to u/unoriginalquote on reddit:

“BYE SISTER…” - A TL;DW, continued

• Tati is all about forgiveness. But JC never wanted to collab until it suited him. She talked him out of his drama docu-series because she is all about respect.
• His audience is dominantly 12-14 years old. She is uncomfortable with how overly sexualised he is.
• He tried to trick a straight waiter (this is important later) into thinking he's gay at her birthday celebration. He embarrassed her in front of her family and friends by being really sexually explicit at her birthday dinner. When confronted with the fact that the waiter was straight, he said “It doesn’t matter, I’m a celebrity.” It made her feel sick to hear the story. She doesn't understand how he sees himself as the victim in these stories. Tati doesn't agree with James trying to break people's sexuality like an escape room.
• She calls BS on the magical story that Sugar Bear Hair had spontaneous security available for him. She believes it was preplanned. Shows how it was clearly an ad and a contract.
• Talks about the difference of how using a variety of palettes is ok, but people won't use various hair vitamins at once, so it was a bigger conflict than her using other eyeshadow palettes. He clearly had not used or researched SBH very much before promoting them. He had in the past told her he didn't like that product and made fun of others who promoted it. Reminds that his audience are children and he promoted candy-like vitamins to kids.

Credits to u/unoriginalquote on reddit:

“BYE SISTER…” - A TL;DW, continued

• Tati reinforces that her relationship with JC was never about money, it was about love. Says JC didn't get to where he is without knowing how to play people and she doesn't want to be played anymore. She wants to bring positivity into the world.
• Also mentions that she is giving parental responsibility back to JC’s own mom and that she should move out to LA to be with her boys, rather than commenting on Instagram from the other side of the country and how her sons need her.
• She felt the pressure to make this video because she's afraid of how JC would use her. This is her choice, if it's her downfall she can deal with it because it's her truth.
• Her channel is not just about money, it's about community. She turns down deals that would make her money because that's not what it's all about.
• Wanted to share her side here and move on. Asks the audience to move on with her and not flood comment sections with this in her future videos about makeup.

Credits to u/unoriginalquote on reddit:

James Charles responds with “tati” - TL;DW

• He apologizes to Tati and her husband, James, confirming all they’ve done for him in his career.
• Says he is continuing to learn and grow.
• Says he’s already told his truth about Coachella twice, and that no matter what he says or does there are always going to be people that don't believe him. At this point the truth really does not matter, it's the feelings that do, and no matter what happened it hurt two very very important people to him.
• Mostly glosses over the situation in which he is a predator towards straight men, states that he wishes he had not talked as much about straight boys online as he had. Understands this is an uncomfortable topic with some people and that he should have been more careful.

“tati” - TL;DW, continued

• Adds that Tati really was one of the people to sit him down and tell me how it looked from the outside, and let me know, "Hey, talking to these boys might get you in trouble one day," and how she was right.
• Asks that his mom stop fighting for him in comments, says how she is the most important person to him.
• Once again, apologizes for hurting Tati.
• This video is, at the time of me writing this, the 9th most disliked video on YouTube.

The Subscriber Battle

• At the time of uploading “BYE SISTER…” Tati was at 5,908,733 subscribers. She now has over 9.6M subscribers, so she has gained over 3M subscribers.
• At the time of uploading “BYE SISTER…” James Charles had 16,553,579 subscribers. He currently has just under 13.5M subscribers, so he's lost around 3M subscribers.
• Tati now holds the record for most subscribers gained in one day, whereas JC holds the record for most subscribers lost in one day.
• Gabriel Zamora is also losing subscribers from his comments on the situation, and has lost around 50K so far.

Other New Key Players

The Waiter

• Who JC was hitting on at Tati’s birthday dinner
• Was bicurious, got into contact with JC, now straight
• Made a video exposing JC

Gage

• Was with JC at Coachella, was also experimenting with his sexuality
• Now straight, also made a video exposing JC

KEEP THEM IN MIND FOR LATER

Initial reactions from other beauty gurus, influencers, and celebrities

More Reactions

• Garbage Zamoron posts a video of Alyssa Edwards saying “Everything I heard and knew about her, I’m glad she validated.” in support of JC, continues to spout support for JC in various other ways.
• Various news sources in various countries have picked up the story.
• A video in which YouTuber Shane Dawson and his fiance, Ryland, warn James Charles that he has a problem with straight boys surfaces.
• Matty Healy of the band the 1975 and Katy Perry liked a video of a girl dancing to JC’s apology on Twitter.

Unfollowing Sprees

• Many brands, celebrities, and influencers began to unfollow JC after all of the tea came to light. As of right now, those include:

• the waiterantha Ravndahl
• Aquaria
• SimplyNailogical
• Mia Maples
• Bretman Rock
• KathleenLights [IG]
• Kathy Griffin
• Casey Holmes [IG]
• Kylie Jenner
• Shawn Mendes
• Nicol Concilio
• Miliani Cosmetics
• Maybelline Cosmetics
• Ulta
• Sephora
• The Sims
• Beauty Blender
• Fenty
• Tarte

• Natasha Denona
• Ellen
• LA Girl
• Makeup Eraser
• Smashbox
• Cher Lloyd
• Physicians Formula
• Copycat Beauty
• Jeffree Star Cosmetics
• NARS
• Gigi Hadid
• Caitlyn Jenner
• Emma Watson
• Nick Jonas

• Tati herself
• Jeffree Star
• Kim Kardashian
• Emma Chamberlain
• Grayson Dolan
• David Dobrik [Still following on IG]
• Ethan Dolan
• Alissa Ashley
• Antonio Garza
• Gabbie Hannah
• MannyMUA
• Halsey
• Demi Lovato

Y’all really thought that was it? That was just one cup of tea, we still have the whole ass pot.

Tati Responds to a JC fan

More receipts regarding James’ predatory behavior come to light

Gage

• Was questioning his sexuality at the time and was with JC at Coachella.
• Later realized he was straight. JC did not like this
• This tweet is about him:

Gage, continued

• Was later interviewed and provided screenshots showing JC trying to pressure him into silence.

Gage, continued

• The rest of the screenshots from the last slide:

The Waiter

• Was the one who JC was hitting on excessively at Tati’s birthday dinner, as mentioned in “BYE SISTER…”
• Said he was feeling bicurious, and his sister convinced him to dm JC later.
• Met up with JC and they made out for about an hour before he decided that this wasn’t really his thing, and that he was straight after all.
• Also said JC was the worst kisser he’d ever experienced, with too much tongue.
• Confirmed with JC over facetime that he had been talking to him and Gage at the the waitere time.

The Waiter, continued

• Was also brought up in the video of JC and Nikita Dragun talking about their exes.
• Was the subject of this tweet:

The Waiter, continued

• Brought these screenshots:

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C0mments towards Shawn Mendes

Comments towards Shawn Mendes

Jeffree Star & His Boyfriend, Nate (by proxy)

Grant Landis

Grant Landis, continued

Zach Clayton & Charles Gross

Noah Roarke

ElmoFilms & Another Twitter User

Captaingabex and Stephen Harrison

@Kevikodra on Twitter

The Dolan Twins

Random Straight Boy

Others

• Zara Larsson came out in now-deleted tweets saying James Charles has hit on her bf, knowing that he is straight.
• Olivia O’Brien quoted her tweet, saying JC has done the the waitere to her boyfriend as well.
• James Charles’ tinder is shown to be set to female, not male.
• Thomas Halbert, another MUA who has had issues with JC before, says he stopped receiving Morphe PR and his code stopped working coincidentally right around when James’ Morphe palette dropped.

James Charles’ Questionable Old Tweets

Other Related Drama

Sisters Apparel

• JC has an apparel line called “Sisters Apparel” which is run by Jeffree Star’s brand, Killer Merch.
• As of the scandal, the website has been down, and can only be accessed via password.
• I assume this is because J* is waiting for current orders etc. to be shipped before he can pull the plug, since he is no longer associating with James.
• UPDATE: As of May 18th 2019 it has been revealed that JC cut ties with Killer Merch, and NOT the other way around.

Nikita Dragun brings out some receipts

• Nikita Dragun brought up these screenshots, though I honestly don’t know if she’s trying to help or hurt JC with them.
• JC said that he met up with SBH on weekend 1 of Coachella--but the date of these messages lines up with weekend 2.

Tea Spill brings out some receipts

• Tea Spill reveals JC told them something different:

The Fiesta Continues

Tati uploads “Why I did it…” - A TL;DW

• Tati feels like she needs to hop on and answer some questions while she’s on time out.
• Says that everything has gotten way bigger than anyone would have anticipated, and that she thought she would have been the one to take a hit rather than JC.
• She wants the hate, picking sides, and abusive memes etc. to stop.
• Reiterates that this was supposed to be a wake-up call for JC himself, not his ruin, or something to cancel him.
• Says that she still loves JC and he needs help, and that she knows she won’t be that person for him again.
• Tati is going to focus on her husband, her family, and the people around her.
• She was offered interviews, etc. but declined them all.
• Says we should not see her as a know-it-all or Little Miss Perfect, because she is also human and fucks up all the time too.

Jeffree Star addresses his tweets on Snapchat

• Insists that he loves JC and wants him to grow up.
• Says to stop assuming things about his own situation, and to watch the video he made himself on his sexuality etc a long time ago.
• Says he went on a trip with JC and his boyfriend Nathan and that Nathan was “grossed out” by JC’s behavior, hence the ban.
• Apologizes again for all the awful shit he has done in the past, and says he will probably continue to apologize for it until he dies.

May 18th 2019

James Charles uploads “No More Lies”

• In this video JC once again goes to clear up all the new information brought to light that you’ve seen for the last 65 slides.
• It is over 40 minutes long and has a LOT of screenshots, etc. There is a lot to digest in this video, like with Tati’s.
• He addresses a variety of things, and using the TL;DW written by u/Nutreo123 it’s broken down into several sections on the following slides.
• I will try and include all of the screenshots shown after the slides they belong on

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - “BYE SISTER…”

• JC addresses his recent video to tati and says it was in response in her video
• JC stands behind everything he said in the previous video
• JC says millions of people have weighed in on something they know nothing about but doesn’t want sympathy, just wants people to listen does an insert from when he was editing saying he saw that Tati uploaded her “why I did it” and saw J*’s snapchat rant wants to say “thank you” to Tati and J* for taking responsibility for starting this/blowing everything up says his thoughts got a very scary place this past week
• JC wants to explain/address allegations made against him “situation is a lot bigger than just vitamins”
• JC + friends go to coachella weekend 1, mentions his “boy drama” w/ Gage
• Says that he + friends wanted to go to weekend 2 to relive his experience without the boy drama
• Could only get VIP tickets for weekend 2 because it was last minute, unlike his weekend 1 artist passes says right after he walked into coachella, he was getting mobbed by tons of people
• JC says he remembers Nikita had Sugarbear sponsorship from weekend 1 which got her artist passes, security etc. so then he asked Nikita to get him security from Sugarbear which JC agreed to in exchange for his IG post

Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - “BYE SISTER…”

• JC says he texted Tati to give her a heads up text, inserts screenshot where he says that he was mobbed at Chella and SBH gave him security
• Tati replies saying that she is very upset and that JC posting about SBH will directly hurt her brand/business
• JC sends Tati a long text saying he is not in a good place and has been dealing with boy drama, is looking into therapy, and he would not want to hurt the one person who has had his interests in mind
• JC tries to text Tati and James to talk and address the IG story drama but neither one answered leading to his post on his IG story
• JC says that a conversation with Tati about not endorsing Halo bc it would be inappropriate for his audience never happened
• Inserts clips of him endorsing/supporting Halo
• JC sees Tati’s video at 4am in Australia right before a M&G
• Filmed his “tati” video at this time
• JC says the most hurtful thing Tati did was bring up his Mom and her parenting skills

Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

An extra screenshot between JC (blue) and SBH

Screenshots between Tati and JC regarding the SBH situation

JC trying to contact Tati and her husband, James

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Boy Drama

• “I’m a 19 year old virgin, I talk about boys a lot but I don’t really get a lot of action” (insert tati’s sucking dick and cock quote from him here)
• “I have never, would never, and will never use my fame to manipulate and get any kind of action from a guy”
• JC is shocked Tati would mention this because he knows what she’s really getting at
• Says the real story has to do with him being at a surprise party for Tati with J*, Nate, and his friend drew Tati’s version of the story NEVER happened
• J* and JC discussed their dating lives at some point but didn’t get inappropriate
• Boy involved is the waiter, who as mentioned before has made his own video discussing what happened
• Says comments about being “famous” and a “celebrity” is just an inside joke that Tati participated in
• The waiter slid into JC’s DMs the next day, the waiter tells JC he is bisexual, JC included screenshots
• “No straight men being manipulated anywhere”
• JC invites the waiter to his hotel, the waiter comes over to watch a movie and cuddle
• The waiter and JC make out “for an hour and JC is the worst kisser” (according to the waiter’s video)

Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Boy Drama

• The waiter leaves, appears everything was consensual, confirmed by the waiter and JC
• The waiter texts JC saying he is gay, wants to talk to JC (screenshots included)
• Tati + James (her husband) have a sit down with JC and explain to him that chasing curious boys will end up with him getting hurt
• “I have been learning more and more with each experience I have with boys”
• JC has learned that sending unwarranted DMs that are super forward/direct is inappropriate and he won’t do it anymore, has reached out and apologized to those affected
• JC says that people have been twisting the narrative entirely and making up fake stories about him which have not only hurt him but also hurt the LGBT+ community to make all gay men appear predatory

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Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

James Charles joking with friends about being “famous”

New Waiter Screenshots

New Waiter Screenshots

New Waiter Screenshots

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Jeffree Drama

• J* tweet about having drafted tweets and karma getting back at people in the beauty community
• J* texts JC saying he heard everything everything JC has said about him behind his back from Tati + Shane and is disgusted
• JC wants to talk to him but isn’t getting anywhere with that
• J* sends JC a text saying that JC trapped Sam in a hotel room and forced him to stay there
• J* also says JC pursued Zach (Nate’s younger brother) and was trying to pressure him to send pictures etc., alleges that JC used “rapist like sentences”
• Ian’s tweet about people being tough online (in regards to a hometown bully) & J*’s quote tweet telling Ian (JC’s brother to stfu)
• J* sends JC a text saying Grayson will be doing a video talking about how JC tried to molest/touch him in his sleep, followed by Zach talking about JC trying to influence him, lastly Sam will be joining J* to talk about him trapping him in the hotel room

Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Jeffree Drama

• J* says JC needs to be locked in prison for a long time and needs the internet taken from him, calls him a danger to society
• Calls JC a “sick motherfucker”
• JC says that there is no drama between himself and the Twins (they called him shortly after the drama broke to see if JC was ok, only unfollowed to avoid being associated)
• J* texted JC’s friend Drew saying he doesn’t have a soul either and hopes Drew gets help too
• Also says that he knows J* is lying about any kind of video being made

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Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

This was sent to one of JC’s best friends, Drew

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Conclusion

• Sam, J*, Tati + husband have all reached out to try to meet with/talk to JC
• JC has declined all the meetings, feels that since everything started publicly it was only fair for him to make his side public before discussing privately
• JC still has love for these people and wants to get himself back together before he “rekindles” these friendships
• JC says this past week has pushed him to a very dark place he never thought he could come back from (potentially alluding to suicide)
• Nobody can ever know what it feels like to have millions of people attacking you at once
• Says “cancel culture” is incredibly dangerous and that people need to think about what they’re saying + its impacts before they say it
• JC's family just arrived in LA for them to be together
• JC cut ties with Killer Merch (J*’s fulfillment company) so Sisters Apparel is down
• Sisters Tour is TBD, updates to come
• JC will be taking time off from making videos

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Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

“No More Lies” - TL;DW - Conclusion

• Notices comments about his ego/attitude getting to his head (entitlement that everyone always talks about) and agrees with the comments
• Taking break from social media as well, does not know when he’ll come back
• Apology to the “sisters” for having to witness this and a thank you to the “sisters” that have supported him and a thank you to those that have offered constructive criticism
• “In the spirit of turning something negative into a positive”, ends the video by saying “Bye Sister"

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Credits to u/Nutreo123 on reddit:

So, basically the lesson at the end of the day:

anyways J* just tweeted this so we’re probably getting another video soon. stay tuned i guess lmao