feuds

Tati Westbrook Now Wants the James Charles Hate to Stop

Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Did you think you could escape this week without comprehending at least on some primitive level what is a Tati Westbrook and, for that matter, a James Charles? Then woe is you! Nobody remains in ignorance, not even on a Friday. There is more YouTube beauty feud content to contend with.

On Thursday, Westbrook, 37, posted an 18-minute video clarification of the 43-minute video she posted last Friday that has since received more than 47 million views because … well, that requires some explication. In last week’s video Westbrook announced she was severing ties with former mentee and fellow beauty vlogger, 19-year-old James Charles, and accused him of “tricking” straight men into thinking they’re gay. Westbrook made her video in response to Charles posting an Instagram video for a gummy vitamin company called SugarBearHair, a competitor of Westbrook’s beauty supplement brand Halo Beauty.

As a direct result of Westbrook’s video, which catalyzed a reevaluation of his past comments and behaviors, Charles was effectively “canceled,” meaning in this case that he lost millions of Instagram followers and the general respect of the internet. There have since been murmurs of a Tati backlash, due to the selfish motivation behind her attack of James (gummy supplement rage).

In her latest video, Westbrook says she needs to take a “time out” and diplomatically calls for a ceasefire:

“I do really want the hate to stop. 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, and I feel like I want to share with you guys why I did … It was me trying to reach someone who I found completely unreachable and I’d been trying to deliver the same message so many times.”

Later, Westbrook says she doesn’t hate James, in fact she loves him, and quietly tears up, but pulls herself together to add, “I don’t want you to feel bad for me, I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, this is not about me, it’s something else, it’s something bigger.” It’s a very humble 18 minutes. Her makeup is flawless.

Tati Westbrook Now Wants the James Charles Hate to Stop