Draft:Sistergeddon

Titled after James Charles' iconic "Hi Sisters" Youtube video introductions, "Bye Sister" is a 43 minute video that details Tati's frustrations with the popular content creator.^[1] At the time, she was known not only as a beauty guru, but as the co-founder of the brand halo beauty. While she and James had been friends, Tati explains how betrayed she felt by James' recent affiliation with the brand Sugar Bear Hair, a direct competitor to Halo.^[2] Along with other things, Tati not only outlines the disrespect and discomfort her and her family felt because of James–outlined in her description of how he acted at her birthday dinner February 14th–but also some of the things he was doing and saying behind closed doors. This sparked immediate backlash against James from the beauty community, and he began to quickly lose subscribers and followers.

James quickly took to Instagram on the same day to post a statement as well as a short video apologizing to Tati, the YouTube video titled "tati".^[3]Fans quickly perceived his initial apology to be fake and tone-deaf, as James explained he didn't receive money from the sponsorship post, and solely took the deal to get out of the crowded Coachella VIP section.^[4] This response further upset the beauty community, and birthed the now infamous twitter/X hashtag "#JamesCharlesIsOverParty".

Following James' response, Tati took to YouTube to post another video titled "Why I Did It" on May 16th, 2019. In this now deleted video, Tati doubles down on what she said about James Charles, stating that he needs help, and that he hurt her feelings; but she does try to filter out the hate he was receiving. Tati explains that she didn't post the video to stir drama, and just wanted her friend James to get better and be held accountable. She also explains that she wants to stay out of the drama, and go back to posting her usual makeup content.^[5]

All of the backlash pushed James to make another response, this one a more thorough attempt to defend himself. On May 18th, 2019, James posted the video titled "No More Lies". In this response, James not only addresses the issues raised by Tati regarding how her, her husband, and her close family and friends were treated; but brings receipts via text to show how the Sugar Bear Hair sponsorship went differently then Tati had originally outlined in "Bye Sister". James also accuses Tati of lying and using misleading language, and brings receipts in his video for proof. This includes one of her biggest claims that James knowingly preys on straight men.^[6]

In "Bye Sister", Tati explains that James was making inappropriate and continuous remarks about a straight waiter at the restaurant they were at named Sam. This was during her February 14th birthday dinner that James and Jeffree Star–another popular beauty YouTuber–attended together with her, her family, and her close friends.^[1]

But James explains in his video that Sam was the first to reach out, and that Sam himself told James he was bisexual. They meet at a hotel in Seattle, spend time together, and Sam leaves. After the "Bye Sister" video though, Sam makes his own video around May 13th stating that he was bicurious, inexperienced, and found James to be "the worst kisser" he'd ever kissed. These warring points of view are further split apart as Sam explains in his video that he's confirmed straight, but James includes screenshots of text messages from Sam saying that he's not.^[6]

James also outlines in his video Jeffree Star’s—another popular creator in the beauty YouTube space—involvement in the drama. Through text receipts, James explains Jeffree was making shady tweets that felt directed towards him, and that Tati as well as Shane Dawson had been feeding Jeffree information that James was speaking about him behind his back.^[6] Jeffree also later confronts James over text, accusing him of psychologically manipulating Sam, as well as trying to get with his boyfriend at the time, Nate’s brother Zach. Jeffree also threatens James over text, saying he’s going to post a long exposé video including a bunch of statements from people James had allegedly been inappropriate with. James also pulls out evidence to deflect the rumors from Tati and from Jeffree saying that he goes for straight men. James shows a clip of Jeffree saying that he himself goes for straight men, thus pointing a lot of hate towards him.^[6] Beloved by the beauty community, Jeffree’s fanbase suddenly began turning on him, accusing Jeffree of being a hypocrite.

To further the damage around the same time, Jeffree star responded to a tweet that Ian Charles, James Charles’ brother had posted on May 12th, 2019. Ian had posted saying “Why does everyone act so tough on the internet?” Jeffree then responds to the post saying “Why is your brother a predator?? Why’d you really move back to NYC? Exactly. Shut the fuck up.”^[7] Jeffree was immediately criticized by fans for this, as he had dragged James’ brother–a minor at the time–into something he played no role in.

On May 18th, after the wild success of James’ “No More Lies” video, Jeffree immediately responds with social media posts explaining that James was lying, and that he has a lot of evidence against him that he could use to ruin James’ career. He stated that he was going to be making an exposé video of his own.^[8]

Then, a stint of silence from both Tati and James on the drama. During this period, Shane Dawson posts intricate videos on Jeffree Star about his life in “The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star”, “The Secrets of The Beauty World”, and “The Dangerous World of Jeffree Star”. This video series would rocket Jeffree back into the limelight of good favor, and would highlight him as an individual that, while having his controversies in the past, has grown into a well-rounded, mature individual.

On June 30th of 2020, Tati Westbrook would come back after a 2 month hiatus to post the 40 minute video titled “Breaking My Silence”.^[9][10] In this video, Tati explains how her and James Charles communicated a lot after the initial scandal, and had rekindled their friendship. She apologizes to James, acknowledges how she wronged him, and accuses Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star for feeding her information to alter her view of James.^[10]

Following the post, Shane Dawson would go on instagram live to deliver one of the most infamous moments in Sistergeddon’s history. Deciding to go to Instagram live, Shane wanders around his house, reacting to her video in real time. He yells at the TV while Ryland Adams, his now husband, yells at him to get off of Instagram live^[11]. While the live was only under 2 minutes long, it is one of the most well-known moments in the drama's timeline.

In the end, it’s estimated that James Charles lost over 3 million total subscribers from this event, and while the others involved in this drama rose somewhat unscathed, it didn’t keep them from receiving major backlash related or unrelated to Sistergeddon. Shane and Jeffree would undergo their own large cancellations and allegations, forcing them into a fate similar to James. As of 2026, the only remaining video from the Sistergeddon drama is James’ video “No More Lies”.