A week ago, beauty vlogger James Charles was attending the Met Gala on YouTube’s behalf and jetting off to Australia to meet thousands of fans. This week, he’s become YouTube’s latest villain, losing subscribers at a record rate, all because of a 43-minute takedown video by one of YouTube’s original beauty gurus.
Important fact:
James is 19 years old
Tati is 37 years old
The 19-year-old YouTube beauty blogger had around 16.5 million subscribers Friday, according to the website Social Blade. That number had fallen to about 13.8 million by Monday afternoon and shows no signs of slowing down.
The drama is a perfect example of how power dynamics work within the world of YouTube. Since the lengthy video was posted on Friday, Charles has lost more than 2.7 million subscribers and been pushed away by prominent vloggers. Meanwhile, the takedown video’s creator, Tati Westbrook, has gained close to 3.5 million subscribers.
Westbrook has vlogged about makeup and beauty for almost nine years. She’s not only seen as one of the most prominent creators working in the space today, but she is also a fairy godmother to aspiring beauty vloggers. Charles, easily one of the most famous beauty vloggers working today — with millions of views per video and a recent collaboration with the Kardashian family — is one of those artists Tati took a bet on. Now, after being close friends and collaborators for a few years, Tati has announced that she doesn’t want to “be friends” with him anymore.
“I don’t want to associate with you, and I need to say that very publicly so that this chapter can just be closed,” Westbrook said.
This isn’t a rare occurrence within the YouTube community. It’s happened before, and it will happen again. For example, a couple of prominent beauty vloggers last year lost hundreds of thousands of followers after a series of fights went public. Much like Charles and Westbrook’s situation, the extended YouTube community and their millions of followers got involved by posting about it on Twitter, Instagram, and, of course, reacting to it on YouTube.
While the numbers are absolutely in Westbrook’s favor, Charles isn’t without his defenders. Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, a controversial creator in his own right who has faced multiple incidents in the past over the use of racist language and anti-Semitic imagery, criticized the way Charles is being treated. Kjellberg said that although he couldn’t defend Charles’ actions, this type of behavior from other YouTube creators should be considered unacceptable.
“For a ‘mother figure’ to completely just drag this kid … no one has a problem with that,” Kjellberg asked in his video. “No one has a problem with this? Over something that could be resolved in private? I’ve had plenty of YouTubers being unfair to me publicly that has been humiliating, but either we talk it out in private or I stop being friends with them. I can’t imagine just making a video publicly dragging someone instead of talking to them.”
The drama is certainly a big setback for Charles, but it’s unlikely to end his career, says Een. YouTuber controversies happen all the time, and attention spans are short.
“Since when did these dudes need to be squeaky clean anyway,” Een said. “He’ll shed the fans that wanted him to be a humble sweetheart, and then be fine.”