Redeem now - Shane Dawson posted an aggressive rant to Twitter about "dramatic gurus" in the YouTube beauty community after speculation that he quietly influenced the explosive feud between James Charles and Tati Westbrook in 2019.
- Dawson denied that he "orchestrated" or "planned" anything to do with the feud, though he praised Westbrook's since-deleted "Bye Sister" video and reaffirmed his friendship with Jeffree Star, who slung accusations at Charles and later apologized for his role in the drama.
- The celebrity YouTuber deleted his tweets and said he would be leaving Twitter for a few months after the rant received criticism, and he lost more than 20,000 Twitter followers in the hours after posting it.
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More than a year after the explosive feud between James Charles and Tati Westbrook that captured global attention and shook the YouTube beauty community to its core, Shane Dawson released a lengthy statement about his own role in the drama.
Dawson has been one of the biggest YouTubers throughout the platform's existence and is currently best known for his documentary series about controversial social media stars, including Jeffree Star, one of the main players in the feud that became known as "Dramageddon 2.0."
Star has appeared in two of Dawson's series, and the latest was a lead-up to the pair's record-breaking "Conspiracy" makeup collection, which Dawson referred to as "one of the best experiences" of his life in his Twitter rant.
While Dawson didn't have a public role in the drama between Charles, Westbrook, and Star, he later alluded to it in the trailer for his "Conspiracy" launch series with Star — but was criticized for not actually addressing it in the series. In his statement, Dawson wrote, "Putting drama in the trailer was something i [sic] regret more than anything in the world and I'm mad that I chose tea over my morals."
But Dawson's rant mainly focused on suspicions that he quietly influenced the feud behind the scenes. Over the past two months, those suspicions have been building in the beauty YouTube commentary and "tea" community thanks to Star reigniting accusations about Charles in an April 2020 podcast. They also arose after a former friend and collaborator of Star's accused Star and Dawson of "manipulating" him in regards to "Dramageddon 2.0" in early June. In denying those claims, Dawson also announced his departure from the "beauty world."
"So did I 'plan' dramageddon? Are you SERIOUS? NO," Dawson wrote. "Do people in the Youtube world come to me like a grandpa and ask me for advice? Yes. Is it easy for me to get wrapped up in something potentially toxic if I think someone I love is hurting or upset? Yes. It's an issue I need to work on and have been working on."
Shane Dawson denies that he had any "involvement" in the events that sparked Dramageddon 2.0
In his four-page rant, Dawson began by addressing the "questions" that have been circulating in the YouTube commentary and "tea" community about the "Bye Sister" video that sparked the feud between Charles and Westbrook. Dawson wrote that he knew Westbrook "was thinking about making a video" but he said he had no idea the video was "gonna be that intense."
Dawson praised "Bye Sister," writing "that s--- will be in the history books," although Westbrook deleted the video and apologized for making it and directing abuse toward Charles because of it. In a follow-up statement, Dawson wrote that his praise of "Bye Sister" did not equate to him thinking Charles deserved the online bullying that followed it, and Dawson wrote the "humbling" should have happened "OFF camera."
but wait! there’s more...(see previous post for part 1) . #shanedawson #jeffreestar
Dawson's rant quickly proved unpopular, as the social media metrics website Social Blade shows he lost over 20,000 Twitter followers after posting it. Many of the initial replies criticized Dawson for seemingly defending Star's accusations against Charles, who Dawson wrote: "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."
Back in 2019 when the feud was at its height, Star accused Charles of being a "danger to society" for allegedly preying on straight men. In an April podcast, Star still claimed he has a recording of "an alleged victim of James Charles" on his phone. In his "No More Lies" response to Star's accusations, Charles said that he has not molested anyone or coerced anyone into having sex with him; Charles, who was 19 at the time Star accused him, said he was a "virgin."
Charles also stated that the mass cyberbullying and online abuse that followed "Bye Sister" and Star's allegations contributed to him wanting to commit suicide.
—BLM (@meanestspice) June 21, 2020Another two elements of Dawson's rant that received widespread criticism were his continued defenses of Star and his announcement that he was "out" of the beauty community. Both Star and Dawson have controversial pasts regarding racist incidents — Star has a long history of making racist comments that he has apologized for, including his use of the "n word" slur on camera, and Dawson has also used the slur and dressed in blackface on YouTube.
"The beauty gurus who are ALWAYS involved in scandals are ALL THE F---ING SAME. They are all attention seeking game playing egocentric narcissistic vengeful two faced ticking time bombs ready to explode," Dawson wrote. " [...] Yes, jeffree is in that list of dramatic gurus (and he would admit that) and he will always be family to me and I love him despite those characteristics. He's VERY aware of the fact that I don't agree with many of the ways he approaches situations and I have been very honest with him about needing to make some changes. [sic]"
"Shane" and "Shane Dawson" trended on Twitter for more than 12 hours after he tweeted and deleted his rant and follow-up, and the most-liked tweet to emerge besides Dawson's own tweets was one that criticized him for "trying to out" Daniel Howell and Phil Lester. Dawson addressed that criticism back in 2017, writing on Twitter that he "NEVER spoke bad" of the YouTube-famous pair, but the most recent tweet criticized Dawson for old remarks about the two. Howell came out as gay in 2019.
—e (@curlydnp) June 20, 2020The same day Dawson tweeted his rant, he also announced the restock of a mini version of the "Conspiracy" palette he debuted with Star, and he posted videos of himself promoting his makeup products, even though he was practically simultaneously saying he was leaving the beauty community over drama.
"I'm done with the beauty world," he wrote. "I love what I was able to create with Jeffree and I'm sure people are going to assume I only did it for money but thats [sic] not true. I just am choosing to no longer be apart [sic] of that world."
- Read more:
- A beauty guru says he's cutting ties with Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson after feeling like he was 'being used as a Black boy' and being 'manipulated'
- One year after the beauty YouTuber war burned their community to the ground, new battle lines have been drawn between the growing stars that started it all
- Jeffree Star reignites drama with James Charles, claiming he has a recording from 'a victim' of the beauty influencer on his phone
- Shane Dawson quietly started a new makeup YouTube channel while on hiatus after his 'Conspiracy' palette launch with Jeffree Star
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