Jeffree Star gives money away on Twitter and the haters try to use it against him, also chase clout

The new coronavirus not only is challenging healthwise or in terms of staying mentally stable during quarantine (#selfisolation #socialdistancing), it is also financially challenging for businesses and for so many people that lost their job or their business. Jeffree Star - the owner, founder and CEO of Jeffree Star Cosmetics - gave money away on Twitter and - what else is new - the haters are spreading hate and/or chase clout. (opinion**)

The corona pandemic is worsening many people's financial situation. 

In the USA (with a population of more than 325 millions), about 40 percent of the adults do not have enough money (cash, savings, or a credit card paid off at the next statement) to cover an unexpected expence of 400 US-Dollar according to a report of the Federal Reserve published 2019.

400 US-Dollar is not that much money in the USA where the living is not easy but expensive - especially in the cities, and now many people lose their income due to the layoffs and lockdowns in the face of Coronavirus and the precautions that had to be taken against its exponential spreading. So the poverty rate is increasing. On Twitter you can read the sad stories of those who lost their jobs or their business and cannot pay the rent or even food, and also of those who have to work but are scared because their own health is at risk due to a lack of equipment for protection since President Donald Trump and his men played the risk down till it was not credible anymore even to the most uninformed people, and thus the USA started stocking up what is needed very late.

Ad|Anzeige


Seing many people in the USA suffering so much, many of the luckier, wealthy or at least financially stable people donate money to relief organizations, for example, the Fortnite gamer Tyler Blevins aka Ninja and his wife and manager Jessica Blevins donated 150.000 US-Dollar, and the actor and company owner Ryan Reynold and his family, the musicians and brand owners Jay-Z and Rihanna and the Rihanna foundation donated even millions - just to mention a few.

Another donator, not only these days, is Jeffree Star, the former MySpace star, singer-songwriter, now beauty-guru, and the founder, owner and CEO of his own successful makeup brand - whose employees btw are on leave fully paid (many other companies in the USA fired their workers without compensation). Two days ago Jeffree Star gave money to more than 20 people on Twitter to help them with their rent, baby food, vet bills for their pets and whatever was needed, yesterday he started a giveaway of 30.000 US-Dollar to one random person to change this person's life. These are only two examples, he does a lot more all year round and especially these days.

I’m going to give away $30,000 to 1 random person who retweets this tweet AND follows Twitter Philanthropist @Pulte and Me!! (If you don’t follow us, we can’t DM you the money) Will show proof! Much love

— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) March 22, 2020

All the donations, those to the help organizations and those directly, are very needed and helpful, in my opinion, but cannot substitute a functioning transparend and fair health and welfare system that shows solidarity as human beings since how it is now - from what I am seeing - people in desperate situations are forced to beg for money, often in public on the Internet to be able to feed their families and pets. You better not be shy or without Internet if you are poor and starving in the USA. 

Now there are people who try to use Jeffree Star's donations on Twitter against him, others who use his giveaway hashtag for clout chasing, and some haters do all of this: want to win, want to gain clout and nevertheless spread hate about him. Dustin Dailey describes what happened on Twitter in a YouTube Video (that also is about Jeffree Star tweeting something friendly about James Charles after they have not publicly talked to each other since Dramageddon 2.0)



I personally think it is wonderful, generous and kind that Jeffree Star is trying to help people - not only in this crisis, he is generous all the time, gives to organizations and to people directly - only a few months ago he supported teachers in need because in the USA many school districts struggle to provide teachers with basic equipment for their classrooms (!!!) and most of those teachers don't earn enough to buy everything with their own money, and after last Christmas he paid for the funeral of one of his fans, a young man who had been murdered on Christmas Eve - people had brought to his attention that the parents had opened a gofundme because obviously they could not afford their son's funeral.

When I first saw Jeffree Star on Twitter (and a few days later on Instagram) giving money away to people in need he found in comments to his tweets/posts, in the very first moment I thought: Why is he doing this publicly, people will use him and take advantage of him even more. But I came to the conclusion that he wants others to follow his example and give to people in need if they can. He talks about giving back very often on his Snapchat snaps and in his Instagram stories.

But on Social Media there are always these people who try to spread hate no matter what or try to take advantage of someone kind. I am all for self-reflection and to better oneself where it is needed (and of course Jeffree Star needs to do this as all of us do since we all have our flaws), but I really hope he does not take the words coming from this kind of people to heart but focusses on the happiness of the people he helped and the love people supporting and being proud of him are sending him day by day.

Actually, I wonder whether when Jeffree, out of a sudden, made this friendly remark about James Charles' makeup skills (that Dustin talks about in the first part of his video above), had in mind to team up with James Charles again for the benefit of charity during these dark times since he and James donated a huge amount of money at the start of 2019 and mentioned this in their last video together (the last as far as I know) before all the drama happended with Tati Westbrook, James Charles and Jeffree Star, referred to as Dramageddon 2.0.

I know there are different opinions and customs regarding talking about money in general - depending on the country where you are from, age and other aspects. Usually I tend to be the typical German, meaning I am reserved (only on the outside), especially in regards to talking about money, but for Jeffree Star, Ninja and other people who are adored by so many I find it a good thing because they are role models for millions of people. Jeffree Star and Ninja both stand for working hard and for being successful with doing what they love and they should also be role models in regards to caring about others' wellbeing too - and that they are actually doing just that we can only know when they do their donating publicly. And that applies to the other famous people mentioned above too.

What do you think about donations "in public"? Leave a comment below!

References and more to read

• Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2018  (Federal Reserve USA)
• Jeffree Star, Shane Dawson and Dramageddon 2.0 - a review after the launch of the Conspiracy Collection, with followups Cancelgeddon, Karmageddon ...  
• Why Jeffree Star should not be cancelled
• #selfisolation in der Corona-Zeit: Was tun gegen den Quarantäne-Blues - vor allem, wenn man alleine lebt?
• Wo man Produkte von Jeffree Star Cosmetics kaufen kann, wenn man in Deutschland wohnt. (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)

* Affiliate link | Werbelink
** Disclaimer: This content reflects my personal opinion and assumptions.

Ad|Anzeige

Jeffree Star, Shane Dawson and Dramageddon 2.0 - a review after the launch of the Conspiracy Collection, with followups Cancelgeddon, Karmageddon ...

Dramageddon 2.0, a major drama in the Social Media beauty community involving the Beauty Gurus James Charles, Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star, and others, in May 2019 became a topic people talk about again after the launch of the Conspiracy Collection (ShaneXJeffree). Here are the reasons why and my two cents why Jeffree at the time did not show receipts. With some followups. (opinion)

→ Followups: Cancelgeddon 2020 / Karmageddon 2020

After the official launch of the Conspiracy Collection (here the Conspiracy Eyeshadow Palette) from the ShaneXJeffree collaboration many fans are waiting for more episodes of the YouTube series "The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star" on Shane Dawson's channel which was filmed in parallel to the making of the collection. Everybody wants to know what happened behind the scenes on launch day when the congestion crashed the ecommerce platforms and they want to be fed with some more details on Dramageddon 2.O.

Anzeige


Dramageddon 2.0 was a big thing in May 2019 on Social Media (mainly YouTube, Twitter, Instagram) and construed from the trailer of the Beautiful world of Jeffree Star Dramageddon 2.0 was supposed to be part of the YouTube docu series Shane Dawson and Andrew Siwicki were filming since the beginning of 2019 while Shane Dawson, Jeffree Star and the teams of Jeffree Star Cosmetics and Killer Merch created the Conspiracy Collection (makeup collection with two eyeshadow palettes, liquid lipsticks, lip gloss, lip balm, fashion and other merch).



But then the series changed its course and became more intense about the process of creating a beauty product, the creativity, the business side of things, and the contracts between influencers and big companies in the beauty industry (The Secrets of the Beauty World: Shane Dawson und Jeffree Star lüften Geheimnisse der Beauty-Welt) than about the drama situations in 2018 (often referred to as "Dramageddon OG") and 2019 ("Dramageddon 2.0").

When the final ShaneXJeffree collection was revealed in episode 6 at the end of October 2019, the YouTube series had a kind of happy ending at this point. Everybody was happy, all dramas seemed to be forgotten and everybody was excited to purchase the products of the collection soon.


But: where are the episodes of the Launch Day and Dramageddon 2.0?

Though everything had been so well planned to make the launch day a great experience for everyone it did not go as planned: the demand was enourmously high and the (external, well-known and specialized) ecommerce plattform used by jeffreestarcosmetics.com and those of other online-retailers holding these products were not able to handle these many purchases in a timely manner for a couple of hours. But at the end of the day nearly everything was sold out.

After that day, people were waiting to see the behind the scenes of this day in the next episode of the Shane Dawson docu series on YouTube.

And there was another issue: in the trailer of the series, Dramageddon 2.0 was mentioned and people reacting to it were shown but not so in the series - yet. And some people were eager to hear what Shane and Jeffree really thought about it.

A few days passed and nothing happened.

Shane Dawson speaks out

Then Shane Dawson went on Instagram Live to talk with his fans about this pressure on his shoulders. He felt that the beauty community was now in a better place than months ago when the fans of the different parties of Dramageddon 2.0 were hating and fighting each other on Social Media. He was debating solutions to this challenge. Rich Lux, a YouTube drama channel from Houston, Texas, published the whole Shane Dawson monolog/dialog on his YouTube channel.

We don't know yet what solution Shane Dawson will come up with. Maybe he will address these topics in extra videos on his YouTube Channel outside of the series and/or split those topics between him and Jeffree Star and their YouTube channels if they want to speak their minds separately. We have to wait and see.

By the way: there will be a new Jeffree Star video today (10 November 2019, 10 am pst, 7 pm in Germany): Jeffree Star playing with the Conspiracy Collection and he will be giving some revelations on his behalf not shown in the series. Obviously he will be talking about why he, his boyfriend and their dogs are moving, why he went to see a doctor yesterday, and maybe he will speak out on above mentioned topics.

Ad / Anzeige

Back to Dramageddon 2.0?

When Dramageddon 2.0 happended - started by Tati Westbrook saying publicly "Good Bye, Sister" to James Charles mainly because she felt used and betrayed but also because she was seeing James Charles developing into a person manipulating others with his money and influencer status in an awful way (see Social Climbing in den sozialen Netzen ist keine Einbahnstraße - Drama um James Charles, Tati Westbrook und später Jeffree Star, Dramageddon 2.0  - , it is in German, please use a translator app).

Jeffree Star did not handle the situation the best way possible - as he said in his video "Never Doing This Again" himself (see down below).

Actually, I cannot really blame him for most of it. I think Jeffree and Shane threw themselves in at first to stand by Tati's side as friends since her fanbase is much smaller compared to James Charles', which was in good intention.

Later Jeffree went in hard because he felt he had to protect members of his family and other young people (I do not name these people since I think they do not want that kind of public attention especially not on this subject) and his emotions made him say some things, you do not say publicly if you do not want to end up in court - you or the other party to be sentenced. And what he said to James Charles' brother was mean.

Some of what he said he deleted right away - but the Internet is faster. He apologized to James Charles' brother from the bottom of his heart - I am convinced he regretted what he said deeply. To James Charles he apologized for not having been a better friend by not having it handled in private from the start. Yes, I agree!

.

Some people speculated he did not show receipts on Social Media for his accusations against James Charles as he had announced because he had none, others speculated that James Charles had threatended everyone with a lawyer.

In my opinion, it was a good decision by Jeffree Star not to show receipts and that he kept quiet until today, and probably will for a long time (I can't wait for his autobiography part 1). Why?

1. For the reasons he mentions in his video "Never Doing This Again" on YouTube himself.
2. He was not the victim. If the alleged victims wanted to come out they could have themselves, they are adults. Nobody must push other people to talk about something they do not want to talk about in any kind of media - in the age of the Internet it would be there for the rest of their lifes.
3. I think he did not want to ruin James Charles life, who may have made mistakes and wrong decisions (allegedly) - but should he be destroyed at this young age? He had already gotten a hefty warning and knows he is watched now in terms of specific behavior. 
4. For business/network reasons. I could imagine that Morphe Brushes, Tati Westbrook, may be even YouTube asked him to stop that public fight. Many people (employees, business partners etc.) depend(ed) on Jeffree Star especially in the middle of the making of that Conspiracy Collection - ShaneXJeffree collab, it would have been to risky and could have ruined the whole (online marketing) project with a lot of time, love and money invested.

In my opinion, it was good that Jeffree Star apologized and left it at that.
 

Followup 6-26-2020 and 07-06-2020: Cancelgeddon 2020 and Karmageddon 2020
As an influencer, destiny can turn against you very quickly. In Social Media are people who feed on the blood of influencers they "bring down" by spreading hate. Sometimes they bring up things from more than 10 years ago, sometimes with a twisted narrative, often hearsay, sometimes lies, sometimes though the truth - everyone on the Internet should be careful what and whom to believe and not just go with the masses spreading hate and ruining people's lives and mental health just for the adrenalin rush and feeling powerful for a moment.

Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson have been on the haters' attack list forever because both had done stupid and awful things in their past - at a time they had not yet known each other afaik -, but they have apologized (e.g., Jeffree 3 years ago, Shane 5 years ago) and worked on becoming better people.

Concerning Jeffree, I more than once wondered whether there are brands or organizations behind the attacks who use those little haters like puppets on a string year after year (with new ones who were not there when Jeffree (and Shane) had been accused the last time and already had apologized) to harm Jeffree's business or him as a person with bringing his past up because he is so extra (imho adorable) and a competitor to some bigger brands now, others of these haters are plainly and self-righteous homophobic. There are many possibilities, I would not even be surprised if some investor is trying to force Jeffree into selling (parts of) his company for a lower price than its estimated value before drama.

At the moment it is mainly Shane Dawson who is under fire since old videos were brought into daylight (which were on Youtube for all these years) originating from Shane in his earlier years on YouTube. I did not watch them at that time and I do not want to now, but allegedly they are inappropriate in a way that some people say cannot be forgiven ever and those people are not the usual teenagers feeling important by spreading hate. I do not know whether the presentation of the allegation is fair or if the judgement by some of those people is right. I mean they say they are Christians, but they will not ever forgive? Although from what I heard, those sketches about children were made to point out how some parents present their children in an non-appropriate way on the Internet? I do not want to address the Shane-Cancelgeddon in my blog any further (not sure yet, if it is Dramageddon 2.2, Dramageddon 3.0 or Cancelgeddon 2020 - everybody is getting canceled in 2020 for something, from CardiB to Jenna Marbles for their past), since this is not a drama channel and Shane Dawson never sincerely was part of the beauty community. But one comment I need to get off my chest: if Shane, like he says, never cared about the money why did he not take those old videos down years ago after he learned that they hurt and trigger people, I mean he had apologized for them, so he was aware of them being problematic or could be misunderstood. I personally do not want to judge Shane (or anybody) without knowing what they have to say to defend themselves addressing the latest (twisted) accusations. And the same questions that Shane gets should also be asked YouTube, who did not critisize his old videos, though they were there all the time, but now punishes Shane, allegedly even demonetized his channels, though, I can see them right now 07-06-2020, may be they had to undo that.

A few days later: Oh, now Tati Westbrook, who had started Dramageddon 2.0 a year ago, and the hater mob following her narrative try to turn Dramageddon into a Cancelgeddon or Karmageddon against Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson. In a new video Tati Westbrook claims, she was manipulated by Shane and Jeffree to turn against James Charles a year ago. Whaaaaaaat?
I remember her sitting with this same I-am-so-hurt-attitude and a tear in her eye in front of the camera to finish James Charles: because he did not preach her vitamin pills though she and her husband had done so much for him and because he allegedly approached some young men inappropriately thinking that was alright ("I am a celebrity"). She had talked about how embarrassed she was at her birthday party because her grandmother had to hear inappropriate language from him (and she mentioned how cute Jeffree Star and her grandmother were together), she even attacked James Charles' mother for not educating and taking care him and his brother properly. By throwing James Charles under the bus in public she gained millions of subscribers last year and was finally able to sell her vitamin pills and new makeup products to them. She allegedly made millions of US-Dollars of it.

To those who spread on the Internet, Jeffree wanted to bring James Charles down, because he was a competitor: In my opinion that is ridiculous. Jeffree Star had no reason to call out James other than to protect alleged victims. James was not just a fellow YouTuber and a kind of friend whom he had supported to get big by doing videos with him when Jeffree had way more subscribers, had given him business advises and whom he even helped buy his very first car, James Charles was also a customer of Killer Merch and every sold sister apparel piece put money in Jeffree’s pocket, since he is a co-owner of Killer Merch. In my opinion, when alleged victims had talked to Jeffree he became so agitated he felt he had to protect these young men and he stood up for what he thought was right and did not care that it would harm the Killer Merch business and his own and his business partners' income. In the big picture of things James Charles actually is no competition to Jeffree Star who used to be a MySpace phenomen and a Rockstar and who now owns several businesses one of them being his own makeup brand he built from nothing after his music career with extraordinary products now being sold all over the world.

Ad / Anzeige



Now she twists the story and I cannot help but wonder what she will be trying to sell next...
This is ridiculous and she imho is not a credible person anymore. Now, when I look through her videos it seems like a scheme: she is always hurt or betrayed by friends, subscribers not watching her videos... Actually, now it comes to my mind that she used to (try to) be an actress!
My personal opinion on her changed over time: at first I thought she was just a bit boring and had an arrogant aura, I only watched her channel because of her collabs with Jeffree Star. When she went in deeper into the vitamin selling business after her Bye-Sister-Video throwing James Charles under the bus, I lost interest in her content totally and what little respect I had for her as an artist because imho vitamin pills (not only hers) are mainly a cash grab, talking people into paying for having expensive pee.
And now imho she repeats her tactic from last year by twisting her story. Again she is the victim and others are the villains.
Today I think, all the years she probably had been jealous because she was not as successful as James Charles or Jeffree Star both their subscriber numbers just exploding on YouTube (and their collabs were always successful for both of them), though she was longer in the YouTube business - but actually she was good in using makeup in an everyday way, but she was not exciting, not makeup-wise nor entertainment-wise. I mean Jeffree who is all about the fan experience took her doing their makeup on a private jet on their way to Vegas and other things (and btw. he and James Charles went on a hot air balloon ride), also James by himself did more interesting things (I liked him letting the animals in the zoo do his makeup - I am not a subscriber of him anymore for other reasons).
But Tati was boring, which is okay, I am boring too, but she obviously wanted more attention, more admiration etc. but her numbers did not improve the way the subscriber numbers of Jeffree and James did. Today I think it must have been preying on her mind. When she did her Bye-Sister-video (Dramageddon 2.) I believed her at that time - also because some young men who allegedly had felt being manipulated by James Charles had spoken up on videos and on Twitter (more on this in my blogpost Why Jeffree Star should not be cancelled), others had been kind of exposed, so those who payed attention knew who they were. So this is why at that time I thought her story of that time was true. But now that she is doing the same thing again, she is playing the hurt woman and victim of bad friends again, I am not sure anymore whether she even is a decent person or was ever credible. This time she is claiming she was manipulated into making the Bye-Sister-Video ... I mean she was about 37 years old at that time, the oldest of them! And in the video she had mainly spoken about her own experiences with and feelings towards James Charles... Sorry, but no, Sis!
Imho, she seems to be the queen of manipulation playing the boys/men off against each other.
It's a shame but Karma will get her too.

But this is just my opinion.

Read more

• Why Jeffree Star should NOT be cancelled (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)
• Jawbreaker versus Morphe x Jeffree Star Artistry Palette (oder Jeffree Star's Mini Breaker?) (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)
• Jeffree Star Cosmetics Blood Lust Palette (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)
• Influencer Relations gelungen: Jeffree Star Cosmetics und Shane Dawson (Blog Text und Kommunikation)
• Wo man Produkte von Jeffree Star Cosmetics kaufen kann, wenn man in Deutschland wohnt. (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)

Episodes of the Shane-Dawson-Jeffree-Star-Docu-Series until today:

• Trailer: The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star | Trailer
• Episode 1: The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star
• Episode 2: The Secrets of the Beauty World
• Episode 3: The Dangerous World of Jeffree Star
• Episode 4: The $20 Million Dollar Deal with Jeffree Star
• Episode 5: The Failure of Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson
• Episode 6: The Conspiracy Collection Reveal | Jeffree Star x Shane Dawson
• Episode 7: The Beautiful World of Shane Dawson
• Von Jeffree Star geblockt (Verbrauchermeinung-Blog)

Ad / Anzeige

Would you buy makeup dupes like Bhad Bhabie CopyCat Makeup to save money? (opinion)

Because his social media followers asked him to, beauty guru, singer-songwriter and entrepreneur Jeffree Star (Los Angeles area/USA) reviewed products of the Bhad Bhabie CopyCat Makeup line on his YouTube channel. Bhad Bhabie's real name is Danielle Bregoli who became famous on TV (Dr. Phil show) for being a teen causing troubles. Her phrases went viral on the Internet and she became an Internet celebrity and a rapper with now more than 6.2M subscribers on YouTube. Some people love her, others hate her - but what else is new on the Internet. Bregoli this month signed an endorsement deal with Copycat Beauty - a company who duplicates products of expensive makeup brands and sells them at a very low price. Jeffree Star did not appreciate most of the products very much while testing them but three of them got his very sought-after distinction "Jeffree Star Approved". Would I buy one of those products though I highly trust Jeffree Star's reviews? No, I wouldn't! And this is why.

The Truth... Bhad Bhabie copyCat Makeup (YouTube, Jeffree Star - 12.5 M Subscribers)



Jeffree Star gives a first impression review, not a continuing wear test for a whole day, in his YouTube video. He stretches that he reviews products, not people associated with the products. Copying was a common thing in the beauty industry - his own products are counterfeited and duplicated all the time.

Would I buy counterfeited or duplicated makeup products?

I find it okay when makeup creators get inspired by other brands to make good products. For example I like that many brands with a limited shade range learned from Fenty Beauty by Rihanna about inclusiveness, also that everybody is now more aware of the many undertones of skins and so in foundations and concealers because Morphe Brushes made it a big thing. I also find it okay for a company or makeup creator to create a formula with new attributes, a lipstick of a certain colour or a palette with different red tones after he/she saw it somewhere else and thinks that the own customers would like that too or probably will like it in the next season. Every company has to focus on their customers' wishes or the trends they might like.

What I don't like is counterfeit makeup because it is deceiving customers and harming brands fincancially (and thus their staff too) when people think it is the original but it is a skin irritating counterfeit and they do not buy from the brand anymore. And sometimes counterfeit products can even cause severe health issues.

I also don't like when a company dupes the whole product, not only the color of a lipstick for example but also the packaging and the marketing concept of another company and then pretends it was the same for less money. But are the ingredients of the same quality, e. g. is it also without pesticide, also mere natural, also vegan, also cruelty free or whatever the original product is? Is the makeup product good for the skin? Does it also stay on for the whole day at work? Probably not.

Ad|Anzeige

Actually, (now that I am a grown-up woman) I would never deliberately buy beauty or makeup products from a company whose business concept is to copy a whole product/line and live on the creativity of others. But the thing is when I look for an eyeshadow palette on Amazon, Ebay or on another sellers' platform, if I am not a makeup specialist I do not know what is an illegal counterfeit (if the platform owner does not check the sellers on the platform), what is a dupe and what is an original brand product - since an average makeup buyer does not know all global brands and all global retailers. Not all affordable makeup products are counterfeits or dupes and also not every affordable makeup product made in China is a counterfeit or a dupe - there are good companies as well as illegal counterfeit producers and counterfeit retailers in all countries. Since I got deceived myself I now only buy makeup, food, and anything else that touches my skin or gets into my mouth from the original brand or from their authorized/trustable retailers.

Again: Not all affordable makeup brands are duping - as far as I know. Maybelline, e. g., is not too expensive. They may be inspired by others (like everyone else is inspired by others) but I have not seen that they said a product of them is a dupe of someone else's or as good as a specific product of another more expensive brand (let me know if you have other knowledge).

Anzeige

Yes, some brands are very expensive:
Some because they have their own laboratory with skilled lab personell (and employees in Western countries are more expensive than in Asia, Africa, Latin America or Eastern Europe. We have higher social standards,we have higher costs of living etc. the employees have to be able to pay),
some because they use high quality ingredients like essences from organically grown rare flowers/herbs or whatever special ingredients,
some because they use expensive high quality jars and packaging created by designers - pieces of arts then poshing up your makeup stand,
some because they have an old and confidence inspiring name (and brand building is expensive too),
and some because of all of that.

I can't afford to buy everything from expensive makeup brands like La Prairie (Switzerland), Sisley (France) or Gucci (Italy). But I do it once in a while: a special lip stick, a certain eye cream, a special perfume. If I want a certain product of a more expensive brand that normally is over my budget I would rather save till I have the money or work more (or find a better paid job/better paying customers) than buying from a company like CopyCat Makeup or other companies whose business modell is duping. My main reason is:

          I just wouldn't enjoy the fake product.

What do you think?

More to read

• When haters leave mean, cruel and disgusting comments (opinion)
• Jeffree Star - a racist? No.
• Fälschungen, Duplikate, Fake-Produkte – erkennen und vermeiden (tinto bloggt)
• Im Trend: Vegane und tierversuchsfreie Kosmetik (Verbrauchermeinung-Blog)

Anzeige

When haters leave mean, cruel and disgusting comments (opinion)

How would you feel if strangers commenting on you and your work tell you in front of the world and using the most abusive and mean words how ugly you were, how much they hate you, and that you should go and kill yourself? That is what social media influencers and others whose work is visible in public have to deal with daily. But who are the haters? And how to handle them?

Tati Westbrook, a makeup-artist, beauty-influencer and actress, born in Seattle/Washington, now living in Los Angeles, this week tweeted about incredibly mean and cruel things haters had said to her in comments, like that she was old and ugly and how she deserves the health issues she has etc. These comments were really hurtful to her. The haters that had left them in the comment section of her YouTube channel are probably fans of a makeup brand and now at war with her because they did not like her review on the makeup products (!!!). Can you believe it?!

Tati Westbrook in the meantime made a video about the situation and what the direct consequences will be on her YouTube channel: I am done being quiet!



Social media influencers, creaters, artists, entertainers, bloggers/journalists etc. want feedback on their work, this is why they invite people to communicate with them in social media, e.g. to leave comments on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc.

Positive feedback and supportive words of cause make everyone feel good, fair comments (positive and negative) help to improve what people do and how they do it. But hateful uninformative comments that are supposed to hurt do not help anybody - and the same goes in my opinion for lies, unproven accusations used to make a person look evil.

Oh wrong, actually hate comments and insinuation tell a lot about the person who spreads them: the person is obviously very unhappy, lacks clearheadedness and the ability to normal communication, and sometimes is just a child, teenager or other immature person seeking attention, lacking a decent role model and can easily be manipulated by others (and maybe is used by competitors or enviers).

Anzeige

How influencers address the situation with the haters and alike (examples)

Some influencers, creaters, artists etc. have a huge supportive following but since a pin in the matress hurts no matter how beautiful the bed is, day by day hate hurts people and wears out the creativity. Some of the influencers and others receiving hateful comments do not read their comments anymore to be mentally able to continue their creative work. Others try to read selectively and ignore the haters' comments, and some disable comments or hire staff to read the comments for them, summarize things up, write a report and forward only chosen comments to them.

Influencers, YouTube creators, artists, journalists etc. cannot spend their time trying to convince each hater to behave better but some of them address the topic in their YouTube videos.

Liza Koshy, a YouTube creator, entertainer, actress and TV host from Houston/Texas (USA) now living in Los Angeles, makes fun of the haters in her video.
Reading Mean Comments (Youtube, Liza Koshy)



Jeffree Star, influencer, singer-songwriter, makeup creator and businessman from California (USA) and still living in the Los Angeles area, also makes fun of them using ASMR.
Reading Brutal Hate Comments in ASMR (YouTube, Jeffree Star)
ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (here is a blogpost about ASMR in German)



Furthermore, many influencers, bloggers, journalists etc. get racist hate comments.

Lilly Singh, a YouTube creator with her own production company, actress, author, model and Unicef embassador, is the daughter of immigrants from India. She is Canadian and grew up in the Toronto area, now she lives in Los Angeles/California (USA). In the following video Lilly gives the haters a roasting lesson.

A Geography Class for Racist People (YouTube, IISuperwomanII)



What do you think:
Should YouTubers and others delete hate comments and block the haters on their channels?
Should fans come to the rescue - but how to do that without fueling the hate and its spreading even more?

There is more to read

• Jeffree Star - a racist? (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)  
• Wenn Make-up-Marken Menschen diskriminieren und Influencer die Stimme für sie erheben (Blog Verbrauchermeinung, Deutsch) 
• Was machen erfolgreiche YouTuber besser (Blog Text und Kommunikation, Deutsch) 

There is more to view too

• Hater-Quiz mit Dunja Hayali und Bastian Pastewka (YouTube, Pussy Terror TV, Deutsch)
• Thinking about quitting youtube...until I read this (YouTube, Kanal Theresa Roemer)
• Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star reacting to hate videos (YouTube, Jeffree Star)
• Von Jeffree Star geblockt (Verbrauchermeinung-Blog)

Jeffree Star a racist? The short answer: no! (opinion)

Time and again, Jeffree Star - a Social Media influencer, singer-songwriter, beauty-guru, makeup creator, business man and owner of several companies - is accused by someone of something. This time his former hairstylist and ex-friend "exposes" him in some wonky instagram stories as allegedly being a racist. Whaaaaat?
Two weeks later it is Thomas Halbert, a young, not-so-famous beauty-YouTuber, putting out a video accusing Jeffree Star - no receipts either. At first he seemed to be just another one fishing for attention and views. After Jeffree uncovered his truth on Twitter and Snapchat, a girl from the UK claims she was allegedly contacted during Jeffree Star's Can't Relate tour last week by someone wanting a statement on Jeffree "to bring him down". Is there a group of conspirators trying to harm Jeffree Star? The recent updates are at the end of this blogpost.

The following was originally supposed to be a twitter comment to someone's tweet who had gotten all worked up over the hairdresser's allegations. Since my answer became way too long I decided to write an article about it (and it got even longer) and post it here in one of my blogs:

I wonder why some people CHOOSE TO BELIEVE Jeffree's former hairstylist and not Jeffree Star. Do they find the hairstylist's presentation on instagram in any way convincing, his words sober, his receipts of the direct messages (dms) authentic? I sure do not! Man, don't smoke whatever while making serious accusations in public! How can anyone believe him when he is asking for subscribers before he would make a video about how evil Jeffree Star is. How can anybody fall for that?

I wonder what makes a hairstylist acting so unprofessionally. And what makes some people obviously WANT TO BELIEVE Jeffree Star is a bad person? And why do people feel they have to spread the word and fuel this fire again and again - after his apologies and all? You could assume there are people behind it having their own agenda and there are always people out there who love to be up in arms against someone and spread the rumors. This feels so wrong.

Nobody cares about the truth when the lies are more entertaining. Can’t relate 😘

— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) 29. September 2018

But of course you can ask me the same. Why do I CHOOSE to believe Jeffree Star?

You just listen for yourself what he has got to say: Racism (YouTube Channel Jeffree Star)


I do believe his words and actually my feeling. Both say he is no racist - not now and probably never was even though he used horrible racial swearwords at some occasions when he was younger.

Since I mention him in a few of my blogposts about YouTube and the beauty industry and because I wanted to make sure he is not a bad person - I had heard of the controversies -, I had to research for myself, went through like hundreds of pictures from teenage on, articles about and videos of his music career, of course watched his apology video addressing former accusations (see 'Racism' above), Shane's five part series about him, all the drama channels, Jeffree's last secrets video, all the instagram posts, stories, all I could find, and of course I watched this THE TRUTH ... VIDEO and similar others where HE SPEAKS OUT FOR INCLUSIVE MAKEUP LINES for all skin tones and RECOMMENDS JACKIE AINA*S VIDEO. That is what matters to me: what I see, what I hear, what is proven! I would not even know much about inclusive makeup or about Jackie Aina had Jeffree Star not brought it up and recommended one of her videos.

I can nowhere see Jeffree Star discriminating people depending on their skin tone, gender or whatever and I do not see/hear him using racial language to anyone.

Anzeige


When I see Jeffree Star I see someone who had problems with controlling his anger when actually being or sometimes maybe just feeling attacked or not respected because of his appearance, sexuality, family history and other private things and then used hurtful words to fight back. He has apologized for what he said in the past and made clear what kind of person he is now and wants to be. Does that mean he is an angel now? Probably not but on a good way. What else can you do as a public figure other than regret and apologize and then move on and try to become a better person.

When I see Jeffree Star, e. g. on pictures taken by his fans, in footage by TV channels, by himself or his team I see someone incredibly patient and friendly when it comes to his fans - no matter what gender, skin tone, age etc. He is creative, intelligent and eager to learn, obsessed with makeup, very professional and a strategic thinker when it comes to marketing his brand or creating makeup products. There is no room for some stupid idea like racism in his life in my opinion. BTW: His makeup videos are very helpful and fun to watch. And I have never seen anybody looking so incredible in a Balmain dress!

But nevertheless, since I try to be professional myself and since I do not know Jeffree Star personally I have to consider "WHAT IF I AM BLINDED" - from the latest Shane Dawson series, part 2, which is about sociopaths on YouTube we have learned not to trust nice and charismatic people (just kidding, sociopaths are not hurt by what other people say).

So I had to ask myself the question: What if Jeffree Star really wrote those damned dms?

You need to know, I would never want to support a hater, a racist or any person that hurts other people intentionally. And thus I would not write friendly about such a person in one of my blogs. So it is very important to me to have an opinion about who Jeffree Star is now.

So here are my thoughts and conclusions:
Actually, even if those dms (allegedly from 2017) are not fake it would still not prove anything about Jeffree Star being a racist to me (though I would not approve of the choice of words that were allegedly used)!

BECAUSE what a person says in private with someone he considers his/her friend - and obviously they had known each other for years - is not an opinion, is not meant to be public and is not meant to hurt the feelings of a third person or anyone - it just expresses the grudge, anger or whatever feeling at that moment. In this case it would mean too he should not have trusted this hairstylist and friend - and that is very sad.

Who has never complained about someone as a stupid cow or worse in private with a friend. Swearwords people use mostly depend on where they grew up - but very often beautiful animals are used.

Anzeige


Did you just think: What is this elder whitebread/whitetrash woman from nowhere trying to tell me? I do not mind - your thoughts and also what you say in private to a friend in some kind of mood for me is not relevant, it is not who you are and is not meant to hurt me - I allege. If you wanted to hurt me you would tell me that to my face. Right?

Maybe we should never think in bad terms - but that is not how our brain works, at least not mine. Most of the time all kind of things pop up in there and I try to choose what I want to listen to and decide what my true opinion is about something or someone. What else can you do. The results of that thinking process is what you talk about publicly and what you try to live by. No one can control every term in his inner talking or wants to control himself/herself when being with or messaging to a friend - sometimes you just relax and express a mood, a friend knows you better than to judge you for a bad choice of words. And you bank on your friend's loyality and trustworthiness. If a friend would think you are going too far or in a wrong direction with your swearing language he/she would tell you that right away and ask you to stop it. And if he was really bothered and you still would not stop he/she would end the conversation and the friendship!

Jeffree Star Ex Hair Stylist Drama (YouTube: Drama-Channel Rich Lux)

 
What made the hairdresser go wild?
Some "friends" are not friends anymore when something does not go their way. E. g., a person could feel hurt because he/she was not booked by the friend's other friend anymore and the famous friend did not force this other person in his team to do so. Some people feeling hurt seek revenge.
Some "friends" see a possibility how they can use the famous name of a friend and some shading to their advantage. Maybe others also out for revenge and for attention in Social Media encourage them to do so. And sometimes all of this comes together - and there goes the loyality, confidentiality ... It's sad but it happens. I do not know if that is what happened here, I just try to find an explanation why someone ruins a friendship, the possibility of a collaboration in the future, and at the same time accepts that a third person now feels hurt because of something someone allegedly said.

It does not really matter if the dms are fake or not (no credible receipt yet). Jeffree Star is not a racist because he did not try to hurt anybody even if he should have used those words in a private one to one messaging situation with a friend because he had a grudge or whatever. The hairdresser is just awful - how can someone try to "expose" a friend and former client like that. I kind of feel sorry for all of them, for the hairstylist because he is such a fool, Jeffree for losing a friend and for being confronted with all the old accusations again, and for the third person for taking those allegedly used words for real and personally and by her going public with accusations against Jeffree Star she, in my view, kind of damaged herself.

The hairstylist closed the door to a friendship and partnership forever by his unprofessional hurtful behavior and will have a hard time to ever find clients again, I guess. He should know that for most people a hairdresser is not just a crafts-person or an artisan but someone they want to trust.

My conclusion of all this is: It's your public words and deeds defining who you are and what your impact on this world is. And I do not see that Jeffree Star is talking or acting in any way like a racist.

I see Jeffree Star helping people to be their authentic self by being successful while being his vision of his own true self. I see him being the friendliest person ever to everybody - he is nice to the makeup artists in the Sephora store when he buys makeup for a review on camera, to waitresses at Taco Bell when he picks up lunch, to salespersonal at the Gucci or Fendi stores at the mall, to fellow YouTube stars and friends - to everybody. I see him supporting other people all the time on Social Media - no matter what skin color, gender or whatever, I see him giving a lot of money to charity and doing many other positive things other people (also) benefit from.

To me Jeffree Star seems to be a good and beautiful person - may be he is not perfect but who is? I am so glad he is here on this planet with us.

That is my opinion!

 

PS: This is what Jeffree Star tweeted on the insinuations of Thomas Halbert

I would never say that word in general, and he knows that. It’s all calculated. He didn’t say my name in the video because his coach advised him well. The legal ramifications for lying to thousands of people/defamation isn’t a joke.

— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) 13. Oktober 2018

Jeffree Star clarified what actually had happened in more detail and with receipts in a Twitter rant on 14th October 2018, and also said that the reason why Thomas Halbert accused him was that he could not handle rejections well (Jeffree did not want to make videos with him and he also did not want him as a client of his co-owned company Killer Merch). Rich Lux collected everything and also some audio he got from Jeffree and published it in "Jeffree Star finally breaks silence...". (YouTube, Rich Lux, parodistic drama channel). Gabriel Zamora, another beauty-YouTuber knowing the behind the scenes, later confirms Jeffree's position in a statement on snapchat (it is here in full length in another Rich Lux video) saying that Thomas Halbert had been trying to play off one side against the other for some time.

While I am updating this blogpost, even more is brought to light on Twitter: A girl claims she was contacted by an American person during Jeffree Star's Can't Relate tour last week in Ireland and the UK to help "bring Jeffree Star down" by accusing him to use racist language. She further tweeted that this "RacialSlurGate" was meant to come out during late October to mid November to coincide with Jeffree Star's holiday collection launch to destroy his business and reputation. The girl has not shown any evidence yet - at least not publicly -, and her account is suddenly not visible anymore... Wow, I am speechless and waiting what else is going to be unveiled. I wonder if there really are instigators behind the false accusations. I guess there are many out there who begrudge Jeffree Star his success and his brand is becoming more and more of a competition to other brands out there. But it could also be just a personal thing by one of the people involved in these or former dramas, it could be a different person or a whole group... Or the girl just wanted attention too. To be continued - may be.

What everybody should learn from this:
Do not believe people when they obviously try to harm another person unless they have credible receipts. Even if YOU can't think of a motive why this person could be lying, because you used to like the accusing party, there can be motives such as wanting attention and clout (views, subscribers), acting out of envy or malice, seeking revenge, trying to ruin or at least damage the competitor, impress someone, act on behalf of another person etc. Or maybe the person is just (young and) stupid. The challenge is to find out who speaks the truth and who wants to use you to spread false accusations. So, do not spread rumors, when you have no verified and credible receipts with the context around the situation.
And please, do not attack anyone on Social Media. Do not hate people who disappointed you - on Social Media you can't know what mental state a person is in. If you are angry at an influencer just leave the channel, maybe unsubscribe, and go to a more pleasant place on the Internet - there are thousands of creative and fun people out there just waiting for you to find them.

Disclaimer:
This blogpost is just my opinion based on what I watched happening or found on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram etc. I tried to figure out what's real but I cannot guarantee that everything I found is true and that my conclusions are correct.

Please feel free to comment down below - in a respectful and family-friendly way, of course, otherwise I can't release it.

There is more: 

• Jeffree Star Speaks Out on Hair Dresser Drama! (Youtube: Drama-Channel Karina Kaboom)
• Wenn Make-up-Marken Menschen diskriminieren ... (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)  
• Sind Beauty-Gurus geldgierig und lügen Influencer für Geld? (Themen-Blog: tinto bloggt) 
• Drama in der Beauty Community (Blog Verbrauchermeinung) 
• Why Jeffree Star should NOT be cancelled (Blog Verbrauchermeinung)

Anzeige