In light of the recent videos posted on YouTube this past week, I can honestly say this canceled culture may destroy someone's life physically and mentally.
Tati Westbrook and James Charles have had a very public falling out, which is causing some serious headaches and confusion for the many viewers that watch them. Tati Westbrook made some serious allegations about James Charles in her recent video "Bye Sister." This video basically exposed James Charles about some things he did to her like signing a contract with her competitor (her brand is named Halo Beauty), Sugar Bear Hair.
Not only was she upset about this, but she also said that she was tired of James manipulating straight guys with money or blackmailing into behaving sexually with him. She also vividly remembered that there was one specific boy in Seattle that James had an encounter with, and was very explicit about what James wanted to do with him. In response to the video, James Charles made a quick eight-minute video apologizing to her, and it was honestly quite pathetic. She had put so much thought into her video, which was 43 minutes long, that it didn't seem really genuine.
There's so much background detail that's way too hard to follow, but the following events have spiraled into one big mess. After that video was posted, many influences (including Zara Larsson) have come and said that they have felt uncomfortable because James Charles has pursed them. In Zara Larsson's case, he sent her model boyfriend "several DMs when he knew damn well he was straight." Many other regular people have come out to say that James Charles has catfished a whole soccer team in high school.
Another serious allegation came out basically saying that James Charles had sexually assaulted someone in a urinal while he was still in high school. The Seattle boy, also known as Sam Cooke, also did a video (that's now been deleted) about his encounter with James as well, saying that James had said he was gay when Sam said he was straight. Many of Tati and James' friends have come in their defense as well. Jeffree Star has responded saying that what Tati said was 100% true, while Gabriel Zamora has also been public in defense of James and said that he was there when James was explaining the Seattle boy story to Tati. James Charles has been losing subscribers so rapidly that he was the first YouTuber to lose a million subscribers in 24 hours. All of that changed up until yesterday when James Charles was finally back on YouTube after a week of silence.
He made a 41-minute long video with a handful of "receipts" calling out both Tati Westbrook and Jeffree Star. This video also included explanations of the DMs with the Seattle boy and the other allegations that were said about him. Zara Larsson finally cleared up afterward that it was one DM and a few comments. The urinal allegation was a total lie, and claimed to be a "social experiment." James Charles took the time to message many of the influencers that said they had felt uncomfortable with the messages that he sent and apologized to them.
James also tried to clear up the situation with Sam Cooke, saying that Sam told him initially he was bisexual. He further explains that after they hung out and kissed, Sam told James he was straight. After a few weeks of not talking, Sam ended up telling James he was fully gay and told James to FaceTime. Sam then told James that he was not, in fact, gay and that he just wanted to know if James was talking to him and another guy at the same time.
Jeffree Star was the highlight of the video, though. After Tati's video came out, Jeffree Star basically sent him a message saying that various people would be going on camera to expose him. These people included Grayson Dolan, Jeffree Star's boyfriend's brother Zach, Sam Cooke, and another guy named Cameron. James stated that the Dolan Twins were the first people to call him when this entire thing exploded, despite them unfollowing James. He also stated that there was never any "flirting" with Zach and that Zach was straight up with him about his sexuality. He just claimed to not know who Cameron was. This isn't the full story, but if you watched both… these were the highlights.
I can't say I didn't participate in canceling James Charles because I did. But recently, it hasn't been doing any good to anyone. Everyone was so hung up on what was happening next with this that they started to believe the fake allegations that were construed against James. So many people sent him so many hate messages. The only people that were really gaining from this were drama channels that were getting insider scoops and more subscribers.
Before this, I subscribed to none of them. After all of this, I will still be subscribed to none of them. They should've handled this privately and in a more mature way than just posting a video or tweeting some bullshit. They're both at fault for this. We live in a society where we're heavily influenced by what we are shown and the claims that are given to us that we do not have the hard-based facts. We are not these individuals. We do not know what really happened. We shouldn't be taking sides at all.
The fact that this isn't over and that Jeffree Star will most likely be posting a video about this is really problematic. With that being said, do not feed into all the drama because you're not these people. You cannot have a fully knowledgeable opinion if you're not even one of them. I don't even like any of them and I ended up being way too deep into this drama. All I can really say is that do not feed into this canceled culture. It can really end up hurting someone's relationships, career, and mental health. If you're not involved in the drama, just don't say anything because you weren't there.
