James Charles started his career by doing people’s hair for events like prom, where he later found his passion for makeup. Working his way into the spotlight, James has modeled for CoverGirl as their first male ambassador at the age of 17, released a palette in collaboration with Morphe in early November, and recently walked the carpet at the Met Gala.
He has been under public scrutiny since Friday, May 10th, following the release of Tati Westbrook’s YouTube video titled, “Bye Sister…” Tati Westbrook has undoubtedly helped shape James’s career when he just entered the world of YouTube including helping him monetize his videos, promote his coupon code repeatedly on her channel, and even went to the measures of flying him out and paying for his hotel in order for James to do Tati’s wedding makeup.
James Charles, 17, applies Tati Westbrook’s wedding makeup on January 20, 2017. Photo Credit: Tati Westbrook
James Charles, on the hand, has received an immense amount of hate following the outbreak of these allegations. Well-known supporters of James have unfollowed him on multiple social media platforms. Some of these celebrities and influencers include Kylie Jenner, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, and unfortunately, more! Many subscribers have also left his sisterhood and this loss has totalled to more than three million subscribers.
The bad news doesn’t stop there for James! The waiter which he allegedly had a relationship with spoke out amidst the controversy of James turning “straight men gay.” James has been accused of not only causing troubles with sponsored content, overpriced tour tickets, and offensive tweets, but he has also been in hot water for allegedly influencing straight men’s sexual orientation.
When the waiter, Sam Cooke, released a YouTube video explaining his side of the story, he included screenshots of the text messages he shared with James after he realized that he had no interest in being in a romantic relationship with James, with one of the messages from James reading, “You’re not straight no matter how many times you tell yourself.” YouTubers have also been making edit videos which show James’s predator-like behavior and when a fan questioned Tati for exposing this truth, she responded in a fiery tweet reading, “Predatory behavior should not be swept under the rug or justified away based on someone’s age.”
James Charles has issued an apology video titled, “tati” shortly after Tati uploaded her video. The video features a distressed James commenting on his now-broken friendship with Tati. Without going into detail, James emotionally apologizes for his wrongdoing, but reveals, “I wish I could say that this is the last time that I make a mistake, but it won’t be.” Other influencers in the beauty community have shared their thoughts on the situation, many of whom are in support of Tati.
As this scandal broke out, James was on his first ever tour and continues to host meet and greets at several locations. In Australia, James had to supposedly redo his makeup and film a video which resulted in him being 2 hours late to his own meet and greet. Many fans left disappointed since they spent anywhere from $100-500 to meet James Charles when in reality, they only had a short interaction with the makeup guru.
Jeffree Star-now YouTube’s biggest makeup influencer-distributes James Charles’s merch called, “Sisters Apparel” through his own company. The website comes with an error message saying it is unable to load, yet Sisters Apparel is not featured as one of the company’s affiliates. Viewers have come to the conclusion that the merch will be discontinued and that Jeffree is cutting off all partnership with James! Ex-fans of James have also been returning their James Charles X Morphe palettes to stores, while others are burning them. People following the drama are speculating whether Morphe will cut ties with James following this intense drama as well.
As James’s subscriber count is decreasing and Tati’s are increasing, it is difficult to determine how this feud will end. Ultimately, followers are interested to see how this will unfold moving forward and how their careers will continue after this falling out. Whose side are you on: Tati or James? Do you think it was right of Tati to reveal this information and will James’s career be able to recover?
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