The YouTube beauty community is absolutely shooketh over the drama going down between James Charles and Tati Westbrook — as are their fans.
This looks like the end of a monumental friendship — the end of an era, if you will, and the tea is piping hot.
I'm going to make you an expert on the topic, momentarily.
Who doesn't love a great friendship-breakup story, amirite?
This brunette bombshell is basically The Beatles of the YouTube beauty community. She is one of the original beauty YouTubers that has paved the way for everyone else — especially James Charles.
And she is the founder of Halo Beauty.
So yeah, you could say she's a big deal.
He's an19-year-old beauty and makeup wizard that has racked up more than 16 million YouTube subscribers in just two years.
But here's the catch: He wouldn't be where he is today without the help of Tati.
Back to when James' and Tati's friendship first started budding.
James has repeatedly spoken highly of Tati, crediting her for inspiring him to pursue a career in beauty in the first place and thanking her for taking him under his wing.
The two formed what looked like an unstoppable mentor and mentee bond that doubled as a genuine friendship.
I bet you're thinking, "wait, I thought you just said they had an unstoppable bond? What changed?" and "40-minute video? Thank you, next."
But rest assured, I will summarize this for you in way less than 40 minutes.
Sugar Bear Hair is one of Halo Beauty's major competitors.
Surely you see where this is going...
After everything she and her husband had done to kickstart James' career that ultimately led to him being wealthy and famous, she couldn't believe that he would publicly promote her company's direct competitor to his millions of fans.
"It's not right," she continued.
In response to Tati's Insta video, James posted this written apology in his story.
Up until now, Tati hadn't publicly shared a response to James' apology.
But after stewing on it for a couple of weeks, she's finally given the people what they want.
But he later made a deal with Sugar Bear Hair — which contradicts his earlier stance on not wanting to promote supplements to his fans.
Tati and her husband mentored James and negotiated deals on his behalf to help move along his career.
She had even promoted James' palette on her channel and slipped his Morphe discount code in several of her videos.
She also revealed that she's tired of having to apologize for James' poor behavior.
In the past, James has candidly made disrespectful comments about other members in the YouTube beauty guru community, Jaclyn Hill and Marlena Stell.
He had also made comments about wanting to hook up with a male waiter, no matter the waiter's sexual orientation.
"For you to lie to me and make me the villain, and go around and circulate a story to work on your side saying I'm loving the drama because it's improving sales," Tati said.
That's not the case. You're my family, I love you still... this is not about money at all."
"I am so disappointed in myself that I hurt her," he said.
James has since lost millions of YouTube subscriptions in just a few days, breaking some records that I'm sure he didn't want to break.
