Before today, I hadn’t heard of Tati Westbrook, but I’d definitely heard of famous YouTuber James Charles.

He’s so famous that he was invited to walk the pink carpet at the Met Gala this year wearing Alexander Wang, something usually reserved for top-tier celebs.

Charles does make-up tutorials that have gained him millions of subscribers and sponsors, as well as landing him the gig as the first male spokesmodel for CoverGirl.

But, as is the way of being ‘internet famous’, that looks like it could all change.

Here’s The Washington Post:

In a matter of days, Charles has lost nearly 2.5 million of those subscribers and counting. The reason? A conflict with his mentor, Tati Westbrook, who publicly ended her friendship with Charles in a 45-minute YouTube video posted Friday.

The first 45 seconds is made up of clips of Tati singing Charles’ praises, followed by her talking about why she doesn’t want to be his friend anymore for 45 minutes.

I feel like there was a better way to handle this. Did you really have to cry about it on the internet?

Westbrook’s main accusation has to do with Halo, her line of skin care vitamins. Her video was the culmination of simmering tensions over Charles’s decision to advertise for one of Westbrook’s biggest business competitors, Sugar Bear.

Sigh.

It gets worse, though – she accuses Charles of using his sexuality to abuse people. Keep in mind that Charles is only 19. He’s a kid.

Here is Charles’ apology:

Charles continues to haemorrhage followers.

People have also declared him “cancelled”. Yeah, you can cancel people now.

For the full scoop on the fallout, check out The Verge’s in-depth article.

[source:washingtonpost]