American beauty blogger James Charles has released a ‘final’ 41-minute video in defence of alleged claims made by his former ‘mentor’ Tati Westbrook that he ‘tricked a straight man into thinking he was gay’ at her birthday dinner.
The footage titled ‘No More Lies’, which was released on Saturday, explains why this is ‘misinformation’ in a series of messages he exchanged with the man in question, who was their waiter that evening.
‘First of all, I’m a 19-year-old virgin. I talk about boys quite a lot on my social media networks. Clearly at this point it’s not acceptable anymore… just thought I’d bring it up, put it out into the universe, I don’t really get a lot of action,’ he said.
Beauty blogger James Charles (pictured) has released a ‘final’ 41-minute video in defence of alleged claims made by his former ‘mentor’ Tati Westbrook
The footage titled ‘No More Lies’, which was released on Saturday, is an attempt to clear up the issues in Tati’s original video
‘That being said, 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, it is not me, and the fact that Tati brought this up blows my mind, because she knows the real story.’
James went on to reveal that the waiter identifies as bisexual and they met up for a ‘consensual’ movie night the following evening in James’ hotel room.
Text messages exchanged between the pair, and broadcasted in this video, allegedly confirm that both parties were happy to be in each other’s company.
James went on to reveal that the waiter identifies as bisexual and they met up for a ‘consensual’ movie night the following evening in James’ hotel room
‘I’m bi’: Text messages exchanged between the pair, and broadcasted in this video, allegedly confirm that both parties were happy to be in each other’s company
The beauty mogul also defended his promotion of Sugar Bear Hair at Coachella – a direct competitor of Tati’s Halo Beauty supplements – by saying he gave his ex-mentor a heads up and did it for better security at the festival.
While she wasn’t impressed by the advertisement, claims that she ‘didn’t know’ ahead of time, according to James, are untrue.
He went further to explain why celebrities like Jay Alvarrez and singer Zara Larsson’s boyfriend had received flirty DM’s from him in the past.
‘I am attracted to men. Whenever I found someone cute I would send them a simple message saying “hello” or a nice compliment,’ he said.
‘If anyone made it clear they weren’t interested I would apologise for the unwanted attention and the conversation was put to a halt immediately.’
The beauty mogul also defended his promotion of Sugar Bear Hair at Coachella – a direct competitor of Tati’s Halo Beauty supplements – by saying he gave his ex-mentor a heads up and did it for better security at the festival
He said that the ‘experience’ of being accused of inappropriate behaviour by Tati would now see him avoid sending these types of messages unless he was sure they were warranted
He said that the ‘experience’ of being accused of inappropriate behaviour by Tati would now see him avoid sending these types of messages unless he was sure they were warranted – and he had apologised to all the people who had come forward.
Calling the last few weeks of his life ‘the most painful time he has ever had to deal with’, James said he still has ‘love’ for YouTubers like Tati and Jeffree Starr – who said that the original videos about the 19-year-old were ‘100 per cent true’ – even though they have allegedly ‘spread lies’ with their words.
After uploading the video, which has been viewed 5.5 million times as of Saturday 10:00AEST, James tweeted that he hoped his last address on the topic would clear up things for his devoted fans.
‘There are two sides to every story and now you’ve heard both. I’m sure more will be said, but I’m moving on. You can form your opinions, but PLEASE do not send any hate to anyone,’ he tweeted.
‘I’m literally begging all of you. The internet has seen enough negativity in the last few weeks. Text your friends and tell them you love them. Give someone a compliment (but don’t be too forward)! Appreciate what you have and those around you. love you all.’
‘There are two sides to every story and now you’ve heard both. I’m sure more will be said, but I’m moving on. You can form your opinions, but PLEASE do not send any hate to anyone,’ he tweeted
Upset: Beauty guru Tati Westbrook, 37, released another video about YouTuber James Charles, 19, on Thursday evening
Comments underneath the video suggest his fans were pleased by the response.
‘Can we all just take a moment how easily the internet changes sides, like we need to get our c*** together,’ one person said.
‘You notice that despite all the trash they talked about James, he never spoke ill of any of them. THAT IS BEING MATURE,’ another said.
A third added: ‘I’m so sorry assuming right away and jumping onto the hate wagon. I really am’.
Tati has been made aware of the video by family and friends. She tweeted a small response defending her decision to go public.
‘I’ve left town on a digital break to heal and pray for healing on all sides. My family made me aware of what was just posted and I’m disappointed to see it littered with so many lies and half truths. I stand by my videos – do not twist my words into what they are not, hear the message,’ she said.
It comes just two days after Tati, 37, released a second video imploring the beauty community to stop ‘hating’ on James.
In the video titled ‘Why I Did It’ Tati insisted that she had hoped her first video would be a ‘wake-up call’ for James and inspire the YouTuber to change his behaviour, saying that she felt she had to be so public with it all because she believed it was the only way to reach him.
Broken relationship: The two YouTubers were friends for a couple years until Tati ended their relationship last week in a 43-minute tell-all video
‘It was me trying to reach someone that was completely unreachable,’ she said.
‘It’s about someone who reaches, across all platforms, 30 million people that are predominantly children. He is losing the ability to get honest more and more each day. I’m losing the ability to reach [out to him].’
The drama between Tati and James burst wide open when the Halo Beauty founder released a tell-all video detailing how she felt betrayed by the YouTuber.
This betrayal stemmed from when James shared a sponsored post with Sugar Bear Hair after Coachella, despite it being Tati’s main competitor for her vitamins.
Fed up with James’ actions, Tati decided to film a 43-minute tell-all in order to break through to the YouTuber that his behaviour was wrong.
Detailed accounts of when James was overly sexual to men were mentioned in Tati’s video titled ‘Bye Sister’, including one account of when the YouTuber attended her birthday dinner earlier this year.
‘He said some things, telling me about a situation that happened in Seattle at my birthday, and it literally made me want to vomit,’ she said at the time.
‘Oh my god, you tried to trick a straight man into thinking he’s gay, yet again, and somehow you’re the victim.
‘You know, it’s really disgusting to manipulate someone’s sexuality, especially when they are still emerging into adulthood and don’t quite have everything figured out.
‘You are using your fame, your power, your money to play with people’s emotions,’ she continued. ‘You’re threatening to ruin them, you’re threatening to embarrass them, and you’re doing that to have them behave sexually in your favour, even if they’re straight.’
Beginning: The feud began when James promoted Sugar Bear Hair vitamins — a competitor of Tati’s own supplement brand. Tati also accused James of manipulating straight men
Damage control: In response to Tati’s 43-minute video, James posted an eight-minute long apology video. But he has since lost three million subscribers
In hiding: James has only been spotted twice since Tati’s video. The second time (pictured) was when he landed in Los Angeles from Australia on Wednesday
Sad: In Tati’s most recent video, she called for the ‘hate to end’ against James
After the video was posted last Friday, it has since been viewed more than 40 million times and invited a plethora of heterosexual men to step forward saying they, too, were messaged inappropriately by James.
The coming days largely increased Tati’s subscribers by almost five million people, as the beauty guru went from 5.9 million to now 10.5 million.
James, on the other hand, lost three million followers and went from 16.5 million to 13.4 million after the video was posted.
‘I knew this would cause a lot of controversy, I know that,’ Tati said about her first video. ‘But I didn’t think it would get to this magnitude. I didn’t think it was possible.’
‘I thought that I would be the one that would take the hit,’ she continued.
Tati then went on to implore people not to ‘cancel’ James and instead end the hate towards the YouTuber.
‘I do want the hate to stop,’ Tati said. ‘I want the picking sides and the abusive memes and the language, and all of that… I really hope on both sides it can stop. That’s not why I made the video.’
The video continued with Tati stating: ‘I don’t hate James Charles. I don’t want you guys hating on him… It’s painful to watch someone that you have cared for be dragged and to know that this started because of me. I don’t think anyone deserves that. I think people deserve a wake-up call and people deserve to be called out for actions. I think someone’s got to do it. I hope that this inspires parents to have more conversations with their kids, because we are losing that.’
She went on to say that her new found success with more subscribers and followers was not what she wanted out of the feud.
‘If I could give all of the new success back, and the new subscribers back, I would,’ Tati explained.
Heartbroken: ”I don’t hate James Charles. I don’t want you guys hating on him,’ Tati said. These statements come as James’ subscribers plummeted in the wake of the feud
Revealed: Multiple heterosexual men have come forward in recent days since Tati’s video. Model Jay Alvarrez (pictured) shared DMs from James on his Instagram
Singer Zara Larsson also said James ‘hit up my boyfriend in the dms several times knowing damn well he’s straight’ (Zara pictured with boyfriend)
James addressed the feud once before when he released an apology video titled ‘Tati’ last Friday.
During the video, James said: ‘I’m so disappointed in myself that I ruined our relationship. Throughout all of this, what sucks the most is that I know there’s nothing I can say or do to ever earn that friendship or trust back.’
Then he went on to address the allegations about how he behaves towards men who are heterosexual.
‘In regards to the boy situation, boys have been a topic that I’ve talked a lot about on my social media journey, and it’s a topic that I wish I hadn’t,’ he said in the video. ‘I’ve been involved with a lot of unique and strange situations that have left people confused or upset. And I’ve learned the hard way about ways that I can interact with boys that I’m interested in, and also ones that I should or shouldn’t be talking to.’
Prominent figures including model Jay Alvarrez and singer Zara Larsson’s boyfriend revealed they received direct messages from James.
He was in Australia at the time of Tati’s first video release in order to help open a pop-up store. But he jetted back to Los Angeles, where he owns a home, on Wednesday once his subscribers started to plummet.
Besides brief appearances at Australia’s Brisbane airport and LAX, the YouTuber has remained out of the public eye until Saturday’s video.
And in Tati’s most recent video, she also confessed to taking a break from YouTube to reevaluate what she wants to do with her career.
‘I am taking a time-out and just needing to not be on social media because it’s a really dark place for me right now and I need to figure out what my next move is spiritually for me, and what this means to me, because if it’s all about money I don’t want to do it,’ she said.
‘So, yes, I am hurting, but so is James and so is our community and a huge audience and I guess I just pray that we can all just be kind with each other through this…I am going to hold myself to an even higher standard because this is forcing me to really look at what really matters, and is working so much really worth it?’