"He really thought I have money, you're going to sleep with me"— Jeffree Star claims James Charles once tricked a 19-year old waiter into his room
American makeup artist Jeffree Star recently claimed peer James Charles once "tricked" a 19-year-old waiter "into his room." During his appearance on the Cancelled with Tana Mongeau and Brooke Schofield podcast on Thursday, November 14, 2024, Star brought up the alleged incident while discussing the controversy surrounding Charles.
"A 19-year-old waiter who he tricked into his room later that night. And the guy, he said he wanted to leave and James is like, 'I paid for this. You have to hook up with me, I bought the room.,'" Star claimed.
For the unversed, James Charles is a makeup artist who rose to fame on YouTube, sharing makeup tutorials, reviews, vlogs, and collaborations with celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Iggy Azalea. He became friends with Tati Westbrook, an experienced beauty blogger, who became his mentor and frequently supported Charles.
In 2019, what began as a misunderstanding between the pair about vitamins took an ugly turn when Westbrook accused Charles of abusing his fame and wealth to make advances towards straight men in a YouTube video titled Bye Sister (Charles came out as gay when he was 12).
What ensued was an online feud, lasting several months and involving others, including Star. It sparked conversations about cancel culture, YouTube's beauty community, and stereotyping gay men as predatory.
"I couldn't believe (that) people believed I'm the villain"— Jeffree Star about the James Charles controversy
During his conversation with the hosts of the Cancelled podcast, Jeffree Star claimed, "Lie(s) (were) always more entertaining than the truth." He brought up one of Tati Westbrook's videos, where she blamed Star and fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson for gaslighting her into making her original video.
Star explained that at the time, he and Dawson were busy shooting Star's documentary and their makeup collaboration, Conspiracy Collection (Fall 2019). He elaborated that it was a great time for him in his personal life and career.
"The fact that anyone believed that we were bored to try to ruin someone's life on the side.. when we're living our dreams, our financial dreams... The viewers were so crazy," he said adding, "I couldn't believe (that) people believed I'm the villain."
Tati Westbrook and James Charles became close when the latter was just starting out in the industry. At the time, Charles' parents lived across the country; both Tati and her husband, James Westbrook, became parental figures to him. They also supported the makeup artist.
Things took an ugly turn on April 22, 2019, when James Charles shared an Instagram story promoting SugarBearHair vitamins and supplements, which were in direct competition with Tati's Halo Beauty. Later that day, Westbrook took to her Instagram stories to share a teary-eyed video saying she felt "used" and "betrayed" (She did not name Charles).
Later, in an Instagram story, James apologized to Tati, who remained silent on the matter. He claimed he was taking SugarBearHair's sleep vitamins because the brand helped him with security at Coachella when he felt unsafe.
However, on May 4, she shared her infamous Bye Sister video (Sister is a term James and his followers frequently use), where she addressed feeling betrayed and claimed she didn't believe in the explanation given. The 43-minute video slams James Charles for aggressively pursuing straight men.
The YouTuber, for his part, again apologized to Tati and her husband in an 8-minute video (since deleted). He asserted that his Coachella explanation was true. Charles also addressed the predatory claims levied against him, stating that he regretted publicizing his love life. He also claimed that his previous interactions had left people confused or upset, adding that he learned his lesson about how and who to interact with the hard way.
Over the next few days, singer Zara Larsson and Jeffree Star seemingly corroborated Tati's story. Larsson tweeted (since deleted) that James Charles "hit up (her) boyfriend in the DMs several times" despite knowing he was straight. Meanwhile, Star called him a "predator" in a separate post on X (he reposted Charles' brother Ian's post).
On May 13, Nikita Dragun, another beauty blogger, shared screenshots of her alleged text exchange with James Charles to corroborate his story. However, netizens remained skeptical, many questioning the "time stamps," while others claimed it was pre-planned to help James.
A day later, Dragun slammed critics for saying her texts were doctored in an X post, writing:
"u really think i have the time to fake texts? the only thing i edit is my waist on facetune sis. they have the screen recording of the messages
On May 16, 2024, Tati Westbrook shared another video titled Why I Did It (since deleted) to explain that she wanted to reach someone "unreachable" in a "last-ditch effort."
In response, James Charles shared a 42-minute YouTube video titled No More Lies, addressing every accusation (including those about approaching a waiter) and even providing proof to back up his claims, which included text messages. Star and Westbrook stood by their claims, with Star even going on Snapchat threatening to show "receipts."
A day later, Jeffree uploaded a video (since deleted) expressing regrets over his previous tweets and messages. He added that he didn't want to fuel the feud further. In a similar post on X, Tati asserted that it was the last time she would speak about the controversy.
James Charles echoed their sentiments, adding that he wouldn't speak on the matter 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," he wrote.
In a September 2019 video alongside Nikita Dragun and Joey Graffeca, James Charles confessed that in the aftermath of the controversy, he considered self-harm.
Things died down until June 2020, when Tati dropped another long video addressing the feud, claiming Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star orchestrated it as they were "bitterly jealous of James’s success." She alleged that they gaslit her into taking James Charles down. She even apologized to the latter.
At the time, Star didn't address the claims. However, during his appearance on Cancelled, he called Tati the "worst person" and the "darkest person (he had) ever met." He claimed that they all spent a lot of time together and learned things about each other.
Jeffree Star added that the controversy took place at the height of James' career, and the new fame and money made him a "monster." He claimed that Charles believed people should "sleep with him" since he had money.
He alleged that Tati was "horrified" by Charles' personality and hence wanted to "expose him as a predator." He added that she wanted to "teach" Charles a lesson and "remove him from the platform."
Neither James Charles nor Tati Westbrook has publicly reacted to Jeffree Star's comments.