This time two days ago, nobody outside of the YouTube community knew or cared who Tati Westbrook was, but that all changed when she released a forty-minute video called ‘BYE SISTER‘, dramatically cutting ties with her former protege, makeup artist James Charles.
[jwplayer 8iMCJxSH]
Suddenly, people who would never normally give a shit about makeup or the inner workings of YouTube found themselves fully and completely invested in the drama, and the story of how and why Tati chose to turn on James Charles after years of friendship and mentoring.
Since then, the tables have turned fairly dramatically for the two social media stars. Last night, James Charles, who commanded a YouTube subscriber base of 16 million, had shed 800,000 followers, and as of tonight, he seems to be down close to two million.
Tati Westbrook, on the other hand, has seen her follower count grow significantly. We had a look at SocialBlade, which monitors follower counts, and since yesterday, her YouTube channel GlamLifeGuru has gained close to 1.5 million subs, pushing her well above seven million.
Yeah, it definitely seems like people are taking her side in all of this.
Tati Westbrook mentored 19-year-old James Charles early in his career – the young YouTube star even credited her as the reason he got into doing makeup. The pair were close friends, and he famously did her makeup for her wedding in 2017, but cracks began to show in their friendship last month.
During Coachella, Charles took to his Instagram stories promote a particular line of vitamins that are a direct competitor to one of his friend’s supplement companies, leaving her feeling “lost” and “betrayed” by his actions, as she explained in a subsequent Instagram post.
In yesterday’s video, she dropped the hammer, accusing Charles of being disrespectful to her and others in the beauty industry, and saying she’s no longer willing to defend him for his behaviour, including recent, controversial comments he made about a waiter’s sexuality.
Delightfully shady bitch Jeffree Star, who can sniff out drama from miles away, was one of the first to congratulate Tati Westbrook on hitting seven million followers.
https://twitter.com/JeffreeStar/status/1127297140982800389
I have no idea where this wild ride will take us next, but I am excited.
