Beauty guru Tati Westbrook has returned to YouTube with an emotional new video in which she claims Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson coerced her into publicly criticizing fellow beauty vlogger James Charles in her “BYE SISTER” video last year.
At the time, James Charles made his own video refuting Tati’s claims that he manipulated straight men into giving him sexual favors, saying, “I am a 19-year-old virgin…I really don’t get a lot of action. I have never and would never and will never use my fame, money, or power to manipulate or get any sexual actions from a guy. That is disgusting.”
Now, Tati is walking back her claims, revealing that she feels she was “coerced” by YouTubers Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson. In the video, she publicly apologized to James Charles, saying they have privately reconciled.
“Back in December 2019…James Charles came to my LA home and we compared DMs, texts, and stories about what happened behind the scenes. We apologized to each other, forgave each other, and agreed to wait patiently until it was safe for me to share my story.” She added that James wanted to be with her to film the video, but she felt it was “important” to film it alone.
Tati went on to claim that Jeffree and Shane “manipulated” her into posting her “BYE SISTER” video, saying, “While I was definitely upset that he had accepted a sponsorship from the biggest rival to my brand, Halo Beauty, I did not make my video because of vitamins. I made it because of the poisonous lies that were fed to me by Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star.”
“James, I am so sorry that I allowed myself to be poisoned and weaponized against you,” she continued. “I am sorry that I bought into any of their lies. Believing those lies and allowing myself to be gaslit into making that video is one of the biggest regrets of my life.”
Tati elaborated on the “lies” she claims she was fed, addressing James through tears: “The information they were giving me was terrifying…I was trying to get you to put your phone down and seek help because I was told there were a lot of victims that were going to come forward to destroy you.”
She justified her belief in Jeffree and Shane, saying, “Eventually, I started believing what they were saying because they said they had evidence…I was beyond gaslit.”
Tati went on to claim that Jeffree Star distributed alleged audio files from victims of James Charles, saying, “The night before I did film, Jeffree Star sent me what he claimed was an audio file from an alleged victim, and told me to listen to the pain in their voice. The audio was clearly a small portion of a larger conversation. It wasn’t enough for me to contact the authorities. It was enough to scare me.”
“As a victim of abuse myself, I know how terrifying it is to think of facing public humiliation and legal proceedings,” she said. “It wasn’t my place to contact authorities or the alleged victim, and I made no mention of it in my video.”
Tati says that she’s now afraid for her life following intense backlash. “I put all of my text messages and other files on a hard drive, and told a few people that I was afraid for my life and had given everything to my lawyers.” Tati says she’s relocated and has made adjustments to her security procedures to ensure her safety.
Shane Dawson was quick to slam Tati’s allegations on his social media, writing in a since-deleted Tweet, “THIS IS A F**KING LIE AND I’M LOSING MY MIND!!!!!!”
In an Instagram live, recorded by users and reposted to Twitter, he accused the beauty guru of “fake crying.”
I CANNOT FFUKIJG BREATHEEE pic.twitter.com/YaXcaIX9vu
— zoe (@zoemevorah) June 30, 2020
Jeffree Star has yet to respond to Tati’s new video.