Tati Westbrook says Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star 'used' her to destroy James Charles

Beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook has made a number of allegations against fellow internet personalities Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star, claiming that she had been manipulated and “gaslit” by the pair into releasing a video targeting their competitor James Charles.

After a two month break from posting videos, she returned yesterday with a 40 minute video titled ‘BREAKING MY SILENCE’ which she said had been released under the “advice of my legal counsel.”

Westbrook’s video surrounds a viral expose she published last May called ‘Bye Sister’, which prompted major fallout (nicknamed ‘dramageddon’) for Charles including unsubstantiated allegations that he was a sexual predator.

Charles lost 2 million followers within three days of her posting the video and clips on social media began to circulate of Charles’ outraged fans burning and destroying eyeshadow palettes from his Morphe collaboration.

She has since said the video was “one of the biggest regrets of my life” and that she and Charles had made up after comparing “DMs, texts and stories about what had happened about what had happened behind the scenes”, following the release of a Shane Dawson documentary series that came after the launch of his make-up product as well as drama within the beauty community.

Westbrook claimed that Dawson and Star were both “bitterly jealous of James Charles’ success” and that they had “needed James marginalised and out of the way for their November launch of the Conspiracy [eyeshadow] Palette along with Shane’s merch.”

She claimed they had made “horrific accusations” behind the scenes to her about Charles’ behaviour, which prompted her to film and eventually release her video ‘Bye Sister.’

She said: “I made it as a result of all of the poisonous lies that were fed to me by Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star.”

“I have lost over a year of my life terrified of social media and terrified of speaking up against the people who used, coerced and manipulated me into releasing my video made in May of last year,” she said, adding she had never called Charles a “predator” and that it had not been “made with any malice.”

Westbrook said that initially she had been “frustrated” by what she perceived as Charles’ “growing sense of entitlement” and was concerned about choices he had made about his career and safety.

The video last May was also released following Charles’ choice to promote a competitor to her vitamin brand which she said had “definitely upset” her, but was not the reason why she released the video.

The beauty guru, who also alleged that Star holds “blackmail material on many people and was capable of destroying the entire beauty community”, said the information she was allegedly given by Star and Dawson about Charles “terrified” her.

Addressing Charles directly, Westbrook said: “The information they were giving me was terrifying. I thought your career and freedom were in jeopardy. I was trying to get you to put your phone down and seek help because I was told there were a lot of victims that were going to come forward to destroy you. I was foolish for believing them. I was scared.”

“I thought if I called you out you would put your phone down and stop the detrimental behaviour I was being made to believe was true.”

She continued that Star had shared an audio clip with Westbrook of an alleged victim of Charles’ and “told me to listen to the pain in their voice”, which she said had scared her especially as she is a survivor of sexual assault. Westbrook also claimed she had been led to believe by Dawson that he would be interviewing alleged victims of Charles’ in his documentary series.

She continued that after her video was released and Star had finished “fanning the flames on Twitter”, she said, “No victims appeared as [Star and Dawson] had stated would happen and no evidence came forward as they stated would happen.”

Westbrook also revealed that Dawson had offered to edit and title her video ‘Bye Sister’ and she had texted him prior to the release of it”, which she has now set to private at YouTube’s request.

“I declined his offer, but his gesture reinforced and supported for me that he was telling the truth. Why else would he jeopardize his career? So surely Jeffree was telling the truth, too. Keep in mind that up until this point, I didn't even know I was making a video. So how is it that so many editorial outlets knew that something was coming before I had even made a decision to film?" she said.

When she expressed she was “afraid for [Charles] hurting himself” over the contents of the video (as he was staying in a high rise hotel at the time), she claimed Dawson told her Charles “was a narcissist and would never do that.”

Following the publication of ‘Bye Sister’, she also alleged that Dawson requested to come over and film her as the fall out ensued for his documentary series - which she declined.

She also said she had been informed that Star is “allegedly a co-owner” of Morphe Cosmetics, which she said Charles was developing an entire cosmetics line with following the success of his standalone eyeshadow palette.

Westbrook continued: “Jeffree resented that so much of his business was centred around his biggest rival and Shane Dawson did not like that James Charles wanted to make a documentary. Neither of them were happy with standing in his shadow.”

Morphe has denied the claim that Star is a co-owner, telling INSIDER that their only relationship with Star was through a 2019 collaboration and retail distribution of his own branded products.

Westbrook also apologised to Charles directly, who she revealed had asked to be present with her for the video but she had declined.

She said she owed him her “first apology” and continued, “I am sorry that I bought into any of their lies, believing those lies and allowing myself to be gaslit into making that video. [It] is one of the biggest regrets of my life. I should’ve tried harder to reach you over those concerns in person and I’m sorry for giving up on you.”

Westbrook also continued that she believed Star would “go off” and asked for her audience to prepare to “forgive the people that he is holding hostage with veiled threats of exposure”, asking for them not to “cancel everyone” - adding that it was “not right to trap people into saying things they wouldn’t otherwise say.”

Although Westbrook, Star and Charles have in the past shared text messages and other screenshots to support their previous allegations, Westbrook declined to do so at the advice of her lawyers at this time.

She also spelled out that she was “well within the statute of limitations for bringing a civil action to seek recovery for my damages”, adding that if she moved forwards with a lawsuit that her attorneys would be “deposing all witnesses who have information about the truth of what happened here.”

Star and Dawson have yet to respond to Westbrook’s video, however Dawson did respond after he was accused on Twitter for his alleged role in it.

In a now deleted tweet from June, he wrote, “1. Did I know that she was thinking about making a video? Yes.

2. Did I tell her to make a video? No

3. Did I have any involvement in the video? No

4. Did I orchestrate it? No.”

He also continued that he had not “ever tried to ruin a career or make someone look bad in my 15 years on youtube” and added that he had “a pit in my stomach” ever since the fallout from Westbrook’s video, saying that he had “regrets about how I could have helped everyone handle anything better.”

Dawson did not specifically name names, but also continued: “The beauty gurus who are ALWAYS involved in scandals area ALL THE F***ING SAME. They are all attention seeking game playing egocentric narcissistic vengeful two faced ticking time bombs ready to explode.”

He also added that he believed at the time that Charles was a “young egocentric power hungry guru who needed to be served a slice of humble pie the size of the f***ing Empire State Building”, but said he believed Charles had grown and changed since then.

In the wake of Westbrook’s 2019 video, Star claimed in a tweet that Charles was a “danger to society” and that his ex-boyfriend had banned Charles from their home. Afterwards in his own video, he said that he “[stands] by everything I said” but continued that he does “regret sending out that tweet.”

Charles has not directly addressed the video either, but did tweet out yesterday seemingly in response to support: “love u guys."