It’s been a little over a year since Tati Westbrook broke the internet by dropping her
now infamous “Bye Sister” video where she explained why she no longer wanted to
be associated with James Charles.
But many apologies, videos, and clapbacks later everyone has come a long way.
What’s up?
It’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News and it’s hard to believe that it’s been
an entire year since one of the biggest scandals in YouTube history.
We all remember when Tati dropped this bombshell of a video on May 10th, 2019 and had the entire
internet shook.
At the time James posted a response video to Tati that actually dug him into a deeper
hole and made him face even more backlash.
Then came Tati’s “Why I did it…” video and basically everyone in the beauty YouTuber
community got involved from Jeffree Star to Gabriel Zamora to Nikita Dragun.
In the midst of this feud, people became obsessed with watching James’s subscriber count plummet
as Tati’s skyrocketed.
But then came James’ “No More Lies” video where he had receipts and went through
every accusation from Tati’s video with his side of the story.
James revealed that this whole scandal really took a toll on his mental health and that
he was going to be taking some time off to get to a better place.
And while millions of followers were lost and then regained, James came back to YouTube
better than ever and has actually come a really long way over the past year.
While sure, he’s still had other dramas since then, like when fans were torn over
whether or not he adopted his dog or when he participated in the Tik Tok mugshot challenge,
James really has come a long way.
Nobody’s perfect, so we’re gonna focus on the positive and look at some of the ways
James has grown over the past year since the Tati scandal.
James himself even took note of the scandal-versary writing quote, “In all seriousness - This
past year sucked.
I wouldn't wish what I went through upon anyone, BUT, I am so proud of the person I am today.
It made me stronger, smarter, but most importantly, more motivated than ever to work hard and
I can confidently say I am finally happy again.”
He went on and said quote, “We're getting close-ish to 20 million subscribers, have
an incredible beauty competition show airing, sisters apparel is relaunching, amazing videos
coming soon, and so many other things that I can't talk about just yet...
I'm just really fucking grateful for my friends & team”
So let’s go in order and look back on some of the big positive ways James has changed
since the scandal, starting with the big holiday party he threw at his house for 25 lucky fans.
At the Sisters Christmas Party they made gingerbread houses, had dinner, and took selfies, but
it was the game of White Elephant that really had fans shook.
James gifted his fans everything from Go Pros, to iPads, Disneyland Tickets, to Amazon gift
cards.
You name the gadget or electronic and James probably gave it to one of his fans that day.
And as much as it was fun to see everyone get these CRAZY presents, it was just really
nice for James to be able to give back to the fans that kept supporting him through
a tough year.
He actually got emotional at the end of the video when talking about it.
So clearly James has made connecting with his fans in this way a priority and we loved
to see it!
Alright, though a year ago it would’ve been easy for James to quit and not get back into
YouTube the same way he was in the past, he kept trekking forward and actually had some
major collabs this year.
On his channel he had collabs with Kesha, Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, Bretman Rock,
and more.
And not to mention his makeup skills are better than ever.
The rainbow pastel look he did on Charli was everything.
But James didn’t stop there with collabs.
If you had told me a year ago that James Charles would be putting together the biggest YouTuber
collab in beauty history, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you.
He was such a controversial figure and it didn’t seem like many people in the beauty
community wanted to work with him at the time.
But now a year later, James got Nikkie Tutorials, Patrick Star, Manny Mua, Mykie, Bretman Rock,
Louie, and Nikita Dragun all together for one giant collab.
And not to mention it was all to raise money for the World Health Organization to help
fight our current crisis.
James personally donated $25,000 to the relief and the video has helped raise millions of
dollars since he posted it.
And in case you missed it, at the end of the video they may or may not have subtly called
back to Tati’s “Bye Sister” original video title.
But even that massive collab wasn’t the biggest way in which James’ life has changed
since last year’s scandal.
His YouTube Originals reality show “Instant Influencer” has definitely been the most
transformative part of James’ year.
The 4 episode season 1 has absolutely killed it on YouTube with the episodes gaining over
10 million views each.
And the show is really captivating.
It’s got drama, great judges, great contestants, and James has actually been a really great
host.
Seriously, if you haven’t watched it yet fans are loving it.
And fans have loved to see James come a long way over the past year, they have taken to
Twitter to share their support for him.
One person shared this photo and wrote quote, “Can I just say, I genuinely have seen a
difference in attitude from you.
Just in general less involvement in drama/petty stuff like that and I really really respect
you for it, tho the hate was massively undeserved I think you took a good “lesson” from
it.
We stan”
This person wrote quote, “it’s what you deserve.
the amount of growth as a person you’ve done over the past year has been amazing to
see.
excited for what’s next mawmah”
And another fan added quote, “@jamescharles I saw throughout this situation that you are
humble and self-reflective.
You really did change in the year following this, you became a much better person, which
most of us can’t really say we’ve done, despite life’s challenges”
And I mean hey, all we can ask for from anyone is growth right?
But I want to know what you guys think about all of this.
Do you think James Charles has changed since the Tati Westbrook scandal?
Let me know down in the comments below.
And if you want more on James, click right over here for another Clevver News video about
that time when he bared it all.
Literally.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, bye guys!