Star speaking about his relationships after
Charles named him in his ‘No Mores Lies’ video
(Jeffree Star/YouTube)Within the subsequent couple of weeks most of the videos and tweets made by Westbrook and Star were
quietly deleted, leading many to believe this was a carefully orchestrated – and highly successful – act of
damage control involving lawyers.
The aftermath
That’s not to say Charles hasn’t lost out. His clothing brand Sisters Apparel, which was distributed by Star’s
company Killer Merch, was conspicuously unavailable while this unfolded
He also had to cancel a series of live events entitled – you guessed it – Sisters Tour, at least in part due to
the impact of the feud. It could also affect his chances of gaining brand sponsorships in the future
- especially given his history of scandals – and there are still questions about the allegations of sexual
misconduct made by Westbrook, as he is yet to respond directly. Although, he did “vehemently deny” the
allegations made by Gage Gomez that he felt pressurised into sexual activity with the YouTuber when the
pair attended Coachella together earlier this year.
But Westbrook hasn’t come out of this well either. Although her subscriber count sits at just under 10
million, her Social Blade is consistently red, meaning she’s losing subscribers on a daily basis. This makes
sense – with the outrage at Charles all but gone, many people are back to subscribing based on content,
rather than moral judgment, and many of Westbrook’s new followers who wanted to jump on the “cancel
James Charles” bandwagon may not actually be fans of her video style. Meanwhile devoted followers may be
rethinking their loyalty towards her as the motives behind her original video are called into question.
It’s hard to imagine another scandal hitting as hard or rippling as wide as this one. Users have perhaps
learnt a lesson in the potential consequences of acting on impulse.
Brooks believes the debacle has changed the YouTube beauty industry. “Since the drama, we’re realising
that we’re feeding into a bigger PR machine more than the audience perhaps realised,” she says.
She explains that while “authenticity” used to be the currency for YouTubers among audiences now in
their late 20s who consumed this kind of content a decade ago, younger followers are looking more for the
dramatic, soap-opera-esque escapism.