If you read that headline and had to check to make sure that April Fool’s Day was, in fact, yesterday, you’re not alone. Jeffree Star, YouTube beauty guru and lover of drama, has beef with Kourtney Kardashian’s 10-year-old son. If the global pandemic wasn’t strong enough evidence, I think this is confirmation that we’re officially living in The Bad Place. What is going on, and how the f*ck did we get here? Let’s dive in.
Despite all the drama that’s gone down since we got to know them, the Kardashians are generally known for keeping their sh*t tight on social media. They show us exactly what they want, when they want, which is mostly on TV and the fake Twitter fights they drum up to encourage us to watch them on TV. Like, Kylie Jenner is one of the most famous people on the planet, and she managed to keep her pregnancy a secret until after she had the baby! They might be tone-deaf or problematic, but the Kardashians are almost never sloppy on social media.
Well, I think it’s safe to say that the Kardashian ship has officially sprung a leak, and it’s none other than Mason Disick. Mason, Kourtney and Scott’s eldest son, recently discovered social media, and it’s been a f*cking trip already. A couple weeks ago, Mason made an Instagram account, and almost immediately went live for his followers. Normally, this wouldn’t have been that noteworthy—but Mason is a messy bitch who lives for drama. A viewer asked if Kylie and Travis are actually back together, and Mason said no right there on Instagram Live! An icon, honestly.
Shortly after that, Mason’s Instagram page disappeared, and Kourtney later explained that she shut that sh*t down. In her own IG Live, Kourtney said that her reason was that Mason is only 10, and Instagram’s age minimum is 13. That’s true, but I feel like the real reason was probably that Kris Jenner sent her a strongly worded text to get her son in line. The family that avoids PR crises together stays together!
So Mason’s Instagram is sadly gone, but don’t worry, he’s still on TikTok. He’s actually been on TikTok since January, and Kourtney has appeared in his videos, so it’s a parent-approved platform. But that might not last long, because Mason has now figured out how to use TikTok’s live feature. In his first live video, he talked about going viral on Instagram, and complained that he won’t get to go to Coachella this year “because of corona.” Aw, maybe he can do a Zoom Coachella with Vanessa Hudgens.
And, in a video from last week, he went live with major TikTok star Addison Rae, who has a casual 30 million followers. What am I doing wrong with my life? When a viewer asked Mason about his favorite beauty YouTuber, he answered honestly: “I don’t really watch makeup YouTubers, but I think James —he’s really nice. Because Jeffree Star is, like, spoiled AF.” Lmaooooo. Considering that James Charles and Jeffree Star are two of the messiest YouTubers around, you already knew this was going to cause drama.
On Wednesday, Jeffree Star was made aware of what Mason said, and as he always does, he made his thoughts known on Twitter. After declaring that six years ago, he only had $500 in his bank account, he suggested that Mason might be “confused with his own privilege versus mine being self-made,” and added that “hopefully his father can educate him soon.” OUCH.
Okay, so is everything that Jeffree Star said probably correct? Honestly yeah, it’s no secret that Mason has grown up extremely privileged, and with his aunt touted as a self-made billionaire, he might not really understand what that means. But does Jeffree Star realize that he’s dragging a literal child in front of his millions of followers on Twitter, just for calling him spoiled?
This is both a bad look and an unnecessary one, and someone must have pointed this out to Jeffree, because he’s since deleted his tweet about Mason. I’m hoping that Mason will go live again to address his beef with Jeffree, but I have a feeling that Kourtney won’t let that happen and she will be changing the Wifi password immediately. That’s probably for the best, because I don’t need to be spending my time thinking about a feud between a 34-year-old and a 10-year-old child. This might be the weirdest feud of 2020 so far, but with the way this year is going so far, who knows what will happen.
Images: Rosdiana Ciaravolo / Contributor/Getty Images; jeffreestar / Instagram
In the last few weeks, YouTube drama has been in the news like never before. You might not have known about James Charles or Tati before, but now you probably have a deep understanding of their feud and who betrayed whom and which receipts might have been fake. Okay, maybe “deep understanding” is an overstatement, but we’ve talked through the drama. But if you’re new to the world of YouTube personalities, there’s a lifetime of drama for you to catch up on.
It would be literally impossible to explain all the dynamics of the various YouTube communities, but there are obviously a handful of people who rise to the top and dominate. And what do you know, the majority of them are problematic! Prepare to be frustrated and more than a little confused, because YouTube drama is like nothing else in this world. Literally so many of you guys have asked me (I say without a hint of irony) to break down other Youtube stars you need to know about, so I’m here to do just that.
Jeffree Star
If you’ve been following the drama with James Charles, then you know that Jeffree Star got heavily involved. He first said that James was a danger to society, then took a step back and apologized. Overall, he remained firmly team Tati, but that’s beside the point right now. Jeffree is one of the most successful YouTube beauty gurus, and he owns a massive makeup company, but his past is very interesting. Way back in the 2000s, Jeffree Star got his start on MySpace (tbt), making music that was a lot like Lady Gaga’s early stuff. He had devoted fans, but obviously he pivoted his career away from music and toward beauty. Sadly, Jeffree has a history of saying racist things, going all the way back to some videos that he made in the 2000s, where he says the N-word, and jokes about throwing battery acid on a black woman to lighten her skin.
Jeffree has apologized on multiple occasions in the past, but just last fall, his former hairstylist posted screenshots of texts from Jeffree, allegedly from early 2018, where he again uses the N-word. Yikes. Also last fall, popular YouTuber Jackie Aina posted an open letter on her Twitter denouncing Jeffree for his racist behavior toward her. It’s really baffling to me how he still has so many fans after the constant proof that he sucks as a person, but if Trump can win an election, I guess it makes sense that people are buying Jeffree Star eyeshadow palettes.
Laura Lee
As much as I wish I could talk about Laura Leigh from Vanderpump Rules right now, instead we’re talking about…more racism! Laura Lee is another major figure in the YouTube beauty community, and she was one of the most notable people to denounce Jeffree Star last fall after (one of) his racism scandals. But then, because irony is real and beautiful, people went and found some, um, questionable things that Laura Lee tweeted in the past. Here’s the worst one:
“Tip for all black people if you pull ur pants up you can run from the police faster.. #yourwelcome”
I mean, Jesus Christ. Laura lost hundreds of thousands of followers after she was exposed, and brands like Diff Eyewear and Ulta pulled out of deals with her. She posted an apology video, which is four minutes of her doing the fakest crying I have ever seen. She deleted the video, but luckily other people re-uploaded it, so please enjoy:
She was so widely mocked for the video that she literally made another video apologizing for her apology. I told you these people were messy as hell.
Logan Paul
Logan Paul and his brother Jake are hugely popular YouTube vloggers, but they also suck big time. Huge surprise. Back in December 0f 2017, Logan made a video about the Aokigahara Forest in Japan, which is known as a place where many people go to commit suicide. In the video, Logan calls the forest “haunted,” comes across a man’s dead body, which he SHOWS ON CAMERA, and then he also makes jokes about suicide. Understandably, people were horrified by this, and YouTube announced that they were kicking Logan out of their Google Preferred program, which is a partnership program for the top 5% of YouTube creators.
Dear Internet, pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
That’s his Notes app apology, where he says he was thought he could “make a positive ripple on the internet,” then talks for a paragraph about how hard he works and how anyone could’ve made a mistake like this. Yeah okay, next.
Tana Mongeau
Hey, it’s another one you might know! Outside of the YouTube world, Tana Mongeau is probably best known for dating Bella Thorne and flirting with Miley Cyrus, but there’s so much more to her story. Her crowning failure was Tanacon, and the story is literally incredible. Every year, there’s a giant convention called Vidcon, where top YouTubers do panels, performances, etc. for thousands of fans. Last year, when Tana didn’t get chosen as a featured creator, she decided to boycott Vidcon and throw her own convention for her fans down the street. The event was a complete disaster. The venue was way too small for the number of tickets sold, so many fans who had flown across the country to be there were stranded in a parking lot for hours with no food or water. Essentially, it was the Fyre Festival of YouTube. Afterward, Tana got very defensive and blamed everyone but herself for the disastrous event. (Fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson actually made a documentary series about Tanacon that is a fantastic watch.) Joke’s on Tana, because she just announced that she’s attending Vidcon this year. Lol.
In addition to Tanacon, my favorite Tana moment was her slutty Jojo Siwa Halloween costume, because it’s obviously appropriate to dress up as a slutty version of a real child. She also created controversy when she marked Mac Miller’s death with an Instagram post that was all about her, insinuating that the two of them were in a relationship when he died. Problem is, the night Mac died, she was making out with Trippie Redd on the red carpet at the Pornhub awards. I promise, I couldn’t make this sh*t up if I wanted to.
There are many more YouTubers who have posted racist/sexist/homophobic/otherwise offensive things, but I only have the patience for so much stupidity in one day. If you’ve now been sucked into the world of YouTube drama, let me know if you want to see more like this!
Images: Shutterstock; jeffreestar, K-Row / YouTube; loganpaul / Twitter; @tanamongeau (2) / Instagram
Last week, I delved into a corner of the internet that I never thought I would be writing actual articles about: beauty YouTube. Turns out, all the people sitting in their houses making eyeshadow tutorials have many, many skeletons in their closets, and there’s basically always a scandal going on. By now, you probably already know the basics of the feud between Tati Westbrook and James Charles, but there have been important updates.
Since the last article I wrote about these two clowns, both of them have posted followup videos, and there’s been a shift in the public opinion about the whole situation. First of all, Tati came out with a video last week titled “Why I Did It.” She’s basically like the OJ Simpson of hair vitamins. The video is 18 minutes long, and it’s basically her saying that she’s not back, and she needs a break, and she’s sorry, and she would give all the new subscribers back if she could.
So I’m calling bullsh*t on that, because I work at a social media company, and the difference between having 5 million subscribers and having 10 million subscribers is a lot of cold, hard cash. I believe that she didn’t think things would blow up like this, but everyone likes popularity. And there’s nothing like a YouTuber announcing that they’re “not back” in the form of an 18-minute video. These people are buffoons, and I’m loving every second.
Then, on Saturday, James Charles finally broke his silence, delivering a 40-minute video that is basically a point-by-point takedown of all the allegations against him. Like my dad gearing up for tax season, James Charles has kept literally all of the receipts, and he was prepared for this. He addresses the Coachella vitamin accusations, remaining adamant that it was a last-minute deal. This claim has also been supported by another YouTuber, Nikita Dragun, who posted texts from James Charles about arranging security at Coachella. There’s a theory that those texts are fake, but I really don’t have time to get into that right now.
In his video, James Charles also addresses the allegations about his predatory behavior with straight men. In the specific case of Sam, a waiter who made a video about his encounter with James, James proves his point with text receipts, explaining that Sam told James he was bisexual the entire time, and that the encounter was consensual. He says that he and Sam have already worked things out on their own, and he’s backed down from his accusations against James. James also rightfully criticizes the many people who have reacted to Tati’s video in a homophobic way.
James Charles also goes after Jeffree Star, another mega-successful YouTube beauty guru, who has been on #TeamTati since the beginning of the feud. Jeffree and James used to be friends, but now Jeffree seems dead set on canceling James. This is pretty ironic, considering that Jeffree Star has a well-documented past of saying racist and otherwise problematic things. Like I said before, all of these people have skeletons in their closets.
In the wake of James Charles and Tati’s most recent videos, the roles have been reversed from a week ago. Now, James has started to regain subscribers, and is back above 14 million. For everyone complaining about “cancel culture,” this is not what it looks like when someone gets canceled. Tati, meanwhile, has started to lose subscribers, and if she’s not careful, she could fall below 10 million less than a week after getting there in the first place. I hate how invested I am in all of this.
It seems like the videos are going to stop for now, but all three of the involved parties (Tati, James Charles, and Jeffree Star, if you’re having trouble keeping up) took to Twitter to address the recent developments.
I'm working on not reacting out of anger & working through patience for what this right thing to do is. ??❤️ I remind you all… as I remind myself to do what you can to lead with kindness.
— Tati Westbrook (@GlamLifeGuru) May 18, 2019
First, Tati explained that she’s “left town on a digital break,” which sounds like an extremely unnecessary way of saying that she’s on vacation. This is melodramatic from top to bottom, and I especially love the part about “lies & half truths.” There’s a reason these people all have millions of fans; they’re entertaining as hell.
Here’s what James Charles had to say:
I’m literally begging all of you. The internet has seen enough negativity in the last few weeks. Text your friends and tell them you love them. Give someone a compliment (but don’t be too forward)! Appreciate what you have and those around you. ❤️ love you all
— James Charles (@jamescharles) May 18, 2019
First of all, of course we shouldn’t be sending hate to anyone. But I do have to roll my eyes at the tactic of preaching positivity right after posting a video the length of a Gossip Girl episode calling out your ex-friends. Okay bitch, we get it, you think you’re right.
Finally, Jeffree Star closes things out with another giant helping of melodrama:
Everyone keeps asking me for my RECEIPTS…. I have so much to say and some really sad, disgusting things to show you guys. James Charles tried to mass manipulate you all today. When I show you the proof and WHY I tweeted that tweet about him, you will all finally understand.
— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) May 18, 2019
These people are honestly insane. Can’t wait to get sucked into another 40-minute video where Jeffree Star shows us the sad, disgusting things he knows about James Charles. And then the day after that, someone else will probably expose something bad that Jeffree did, and the whole vicious cycle will just repeat until we get hit by an asteroid. Hopefully it’ll be soon, we need to be put out of our misery.
UPDATE: While I wrote this on Sunday morning and then went about my day, the YouTube beauty community continued to self-destruct for the rest of the day. Before you all flood my DMs asking me to explain what’s going on, here’s the update to the update on the drama that none of us truly understand.
After all that other stuff went down, Jeffree Star finally came out with his own video addressing the James Charles/Tati drama. Like I said before, Jeffree Star is problematic af, but it’s fair for him to address the accusations that have been directed at him.
In the video, Jeffree apologizes for some of his aggressive tweets from the past week, and he also says that he doesn’t hate James Charles. Blah, blah, blah. Jeffree specifically says he’s not going to spill tea or come for James, so it’s a pretty boring 13 minutes.
In addition to Jeffree’s video saying that he won’t fuel the fire (too late), Tati interrupted her ~digital break~ to come back to Twitter and post my absolute favorite type of content: a Notes app statement.
— Tati Westbrook (@GlamLifeGuru) May 19, 2019
If you don’t have the patience to read that entire thing, it’s basically Tati apologizing again and saying that she would very much like to be excluded from this narrative. Despite all the insane drama that she essentially started, I feel like she’s right to say she wants to move on. At this point, there’s nothing else that could possibly be accomplished from Tati, Jeffree, and James making video after video throwing receipts in each other’s face. At a certain point, you have to agree to disagree and just move on.
We finished off the evening with one last tweet from James Charles, saying that he’s on board with Tati and Jeffree that it’s time to move on, and promises not to speak about this further.
Thank you @jeffreestar & @glamlifeguru for your sentiments. I am on board to move on, will not speak about this further, but do hope to speak in the future when we’re all ready. This week was awful for all of us and I ask that the community focuses on positivity moving forward ❤️
— James Charles (@jamescharles) May 20, 2019
Basically, they all want everything to be sunshine and rainbows and eyeshadow palettes, and I’m sure they’ll all go back to making their normal videos soon. That’s all well and good, but you know it’s only a matter of time before one of them f*cks up again and we have to do this sh*t one more time. Deep down (or not so deep down), they all have a trashy side, and it’ll always come out.
Images: Shutterstock; glamlifeguru, jamescharles, jeffreestar / YouTube; @jamescharles (2), @glamlifeguru (2), @jeffreestar / Twitter
