Tati Westbrook has spoken out again in the wake of the James Charles scandal, as she implores for the ‘hate to end’ — just days after she called the YouTuber out for lying and manipulating straight men.
On Thursday evening, the 37-year-old beauty guru released another video titled Why I Did It to address the bitter online scandal that has erupted since she first posted a lengthy video last Friday accusing him of multiple indiscretions.
In her latest clip, Tati insisted that she had hoped her first video would be a ‘wake-up call’ for James and inspire the YouTuber to change his behavior, saying that she felt she had to be so public it all because she believed it was the only way to reach him.
Upset: Beauty guru Tati Westbrook, 37, released another video about YouTuber James Charles, 19, on Thursday evening
Shocked: In the video, Tati explained why she decided to post a tell-all about the YouTuber, saying she did not anticipate all the hate towards James
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 Halo Beauty 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 behavior was wrong.
Detailed accounts of when James was overly sexual to men were mentioned in Tati’s video titled By 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 favor, 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 — as of 10:00 EST Friday morning.
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 state 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 has only spoken out once about the allegations against him and his character 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. The YouTuber has not responded to any claims since Friday.
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.
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?’