Here's your complete breakdown of the ongoing drama surrounding the social media influencer.
Over the last two years, YouTube star and beauty vlogger James Charles shot to fame as one of the most popular social media influencers in the world.
During his meteoric rise, Charles hit a number of stumbling blocks -- usually revolving around ill-informed and poorly thought-out tweets that got him in hot water -- but still managed to amass 16.5 million followers, and became the first male brand ambassador for CoverGirl.
And then, over the weekend, Charles got into a feud with fellow beauty vlogger Tati Westbrook -- who was also Charles' friend and YouTube mentor -- and things have been going downhill fast ever since.
After being called out by Westbrook in a 43-minute video that made a number of strong allegations against Charles, the 19-year-old makeup artist lost 3 million subscribers in just days and is the star of the internet's latest cancel party.
However, it's not just Westbrook who has spoken out against Charles in the days following her so-called expose. Some of the biggest social media stars, as well as many of Charles' big-name celeb pals, have joined the exodus in an effort to distance themselves from the controversial figure.
Here's a breakdown of all the stars who have added their voices to the outcry against the embattled YouTube celeb.
But First, A Look Back...
Here's a quick cheat sheet for all of those who are still a little unclear about what's going on and who's involved, in helpful bullet point format:
- Tati Westbrook is a longtime beauty vlogger who mentored Charles, took him under her wing, and became his friend. He even did her makeup for her wedding.
- Westbrook started a beauty supplement company called Halo Beauty.
- During the first weekend of Coachella, Charles posted an endorsement of a product called Sugar Bear Hair, a different brand of beauty supplement that was a direct competitor to Westbrook's brand. She wasn't thrilled.
- Charles apologized on his Instagram Story, but according to Westbrook was secretly shading her and badmouthing her to others in the YouTube community.
- On May 10, Westbrook posts a video called "BYE SISTER" in which she called Charles out for supposedly backstabbing her, and then accused Charles of sexually manipulating men and threatening to ruin them. The video racked up over 38 million views in a matter of days.
- Charles then posted an 8-minute long tearful apology video, but people didn't really buy it.
Tati Westbrook
In "BYE SISTER," Westbrook shares a lot of claims about Charles, but some were more controversial than others. One of the biggest allegations is that Charles specifically targets straight men and tries to manipulate them into having physical or romantic relationships.
Westbrook said she wanted to stop having to defend Charles for both his comments about other vloggers and those about wanting to hook up with straight men regardless of their own sexual orientation.
"Oh my god! You tried tricking a straight man into thinking he's gay yet again, and somehow you're the victim," she said of Charles' Coachella drama with Instagram model Gage Gomez.
Gomez, who claims he told Charles when they first started talking that he was straight, joined the influencer to Coachella, where people began speculating that they were dating. Soon after, Charles called Gomez "a disgusting con artist" and accused him of misleading him.
Gomez -- who's online following is a tiny fraction of Charles', responded by calling the accusations slanderous and claimed that Charles tried to destroy his career when he didn't respond to Charles' sexual advances. Charles has denied those accusations.
"You know, it's really disgusting to manipulate someone's sexuality, especially when they are still emerging into adulthood and don't have everything quite figured out," Westbrook said in the video. "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 OK."
Jeffree Star
The 33-year-old beauty mogul took to Twitter following Westbrook's explosive video, and claimed that her accusations are "100% true."
"There is a reason that Nathan banned James Charles from ever coming over to our home again," Star wrote of his boyfriend, Nathan Schwandt, in a since-deleted tweet. "There's a reason why I haven't seen him since [Westbrook's] birthday in February. He is a danger to society. Everything Tati said is 100% true."
While Star cautiously removed those comments from Twitter, he's subsequently been celebrating Westbrook's own increase in YouTube subscribers. (It seems that many of the millions who have unfollowed Charles have started following Westbrook amid their feud.)
Shane Dawson
One of the most popular and long-running YouTube stars -- who is also no stranger to controversy himself -- didn't directly come out against Charles, but has made his stance known by showing very vocal support for Westbrook and her Halo Beauty products.
However, Dawson also made it clear on Monday that the drama -- and the very vocal hate and anger directed toward Charles -- has brought him no joy.
"Feeling sad. Everything feels so dark right now. Even though i believe some people need to be humbled i also could never enjoy watching someone go through something like that," Dawson wrote in a message posted to Twitter.
"Today i wanna focus on good stuff. I feel like i have tea poisoning from seeing all this drama," Dawson added. "Send a nice text to a friend today. Give someone a hug. Tweet a link to ur favorite music video. I dunno… something nice. I feel like we all need that right now."
Zara Larsson
The Swedish singer-songwriter claimed that Westbrook's claims about Charles' attempts to attract straight men mirrored a personal experience she allegedly witnessed between Charles and her own boyfriend.
"I'm cackling cause he hit up my boyfriend in the dms several times knowing damn well he's straight," Larsson claimed, before later backpedaling a bit on her comments.
"I feel like deleting this cause I checked and it wasn't several times, only one dm and some comments under pictures," Larsson later wrote.
Celebrity Friends
Among the 3 million followers who have jumped ship are a number of huge A-list music and TV stars who have been publicly associated or friendly with Charles in the past.
The ever-growing list of unsubscribers included Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Iggy Azalea, among others.
While they technically haven't spoken out about the drama specifically, their choice to unfollow the influencer speaks volumes on it's own.
For more on the ongoing drama, check out the video below.
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