Last year, 38-year-old beauty vlogger Tati Westbrook feuded with former friend and mentee, 21-year-old beauty influencer James Charles. According to Insider, the feud began after Charles, who had previously promoted Westbrook's Halo Beauty supplement line, shared a video on his Instagram Stories selling Sugar Bear Hair's vitamin supplements.
Westbrook then shared in an Instagram Live that she felt "betrayed," releasing a lengthy and controversial YouTube video called "Bye Sister," which explained a series of alleged accusations that Charles had used his position to exploit others. The video eclipsed 36 million views and was deleted but clips of the video circulate within the beauty community. In fact, it was even featured in YouTube's 2019 Rewind compilation.
Anyway, in a now deleted Twitter rant, Dawson broke down his take on the biggest beauty controversy in 2019, nearly a full year since the drama unfolded. As he sees it, he wasn't to blame for igniting the drama or continuing it, but feels partly to blame for not doing enough to help the people around him.
“Drama might be fun to watch but it’s not fun to get wrapped up in and it’s my fault for letting that happen,” he wrote. “And, I’m sick of being trapped in the middle of it.”
“Don’t get it twisted, drama will never end with a lot of these people,” he added. “It’s their game, their survival, their drug. They love it. This specific drama went too far obviously, and hopefully something like that never happens again.”
“Putting drama in the trailer was something I regret more than anything in the world and I’m mad that I chose tea over my morals. I’m really sorry to Tati and James if me putting their drama in the series at all felt like I was reopening wounds.”
Dawson said he is still experiencing backlash from featuring their feud in the trailer to this day, and while he 'loves Jeffree Star like family', he is deciding to step away from the YouTube beauty world.
“As for my channels, I’m done with the beauty world,” he said. “I love what I was able to create with Jeffree [Star] and I’m sure people are going to assume I only did it for money but that’s not true. I just am choosing to no longer be a part of that world.”
“I will still watch beauty videos, buy and play with makeup, and be part of it in my life offline but as for being a part of that world on YouTube? I don’t think it’s for me. I need to get back to why I started YouTube back in 2005 and that was to make things that bring me joy (not drama) and to make movies one day.”
“Makeup will for now just be a fun hobby I have to help with my anxiety… like slime or emotional eating. And that all sounds really good to me right now.”
