The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.13 Why James Charles' Historic Downfall Is SO Different. Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Monday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. Remember, hit that like button, otherwise I'm gonna punch you in the throat. But, with that said, let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is this really now historic industry news around Tati Westbrook and James Charles. Like you know an industry situation has gone to just a completely different level. When you start getting questions from like your parents' friends or even like your grandparents' friends. But that reaction is understandable because looking at the size of this situation,

Starting point is 00:00:30 this is like nothing we've ever seen before. Since Friday, James Charles, easily one of the largest creators on this or many other platforms, he has lost almost, and by the time this video goes up, may have lost more than three million subscribers. The internet right now is just filled with memes and mockery of James Charles on pretty much every social media app.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Part of it is also connected to jumping ship from James Charles and subscribing to Tati Westbrook, who actually, as of recording this video, has gained more subscribers than James has lost. But one of the questions, especially for people outside of the beauty guru industry, is how did we get to this point? And I think this is important that we touch on,

Starting point is 00:01:03 because right now, depending on the outlet that you're going to or the person that you're going to, there are several narratives. Some don't touch on certain things. Some are a little bit off base. It's really a combination of several things all hitting this one big breaking point. That said, we are gonna try and simplify some things,

Starting point is 00:01:19 try and boil everything down to the core, core pieces. Right, because I'm not trying to make a 40 minute video on this just one topic, which with all the information that's out there right now, you could. But with that said, to get to the core of where this story gets to, we have to go through some drama. So, what happened on Friday? So a thing to note, Tati and James were friends.

Starting point is 00:01:37 Tati helped bring James up, right? She was promoting him to no personal benefit. But near the end of April, things seemed not great between the two. And that appeared to be connected to James Charles promoting what was seen as a rival product. Specifically, Sugar Bear Hair's new sleep vitamins. Which for those that don't know, in addition to Tati Westbrook just being a massive beauty guru and influencer, she's also an entrepreneur with her own vitamin company called Halo Beauty.

Starting point is 00:01:59 At a point after James' post, we see Tati make an Instagram story where she's crying. She doesn't name James Charles, but she talks about feeling alone in the industry. I'm just so upset. I feel really used and that's the bad part of Hollywood. Welcome to business. Everybody says what they need to say and uses who they need to use to get ahead. And I have had about enough.

Starting point is 00:02:27 James ends up making his own Insta story where he apologizes, writing, "'I want to publicly apologize to my close friend Tati. "'She's been like a mother to me "'since my first days in this industry. "'I did not think about the competition, "'which was a major oversight. "'I've supported Tati both online and off

Starting point is 00:02:39 "'like she has done for me and am devastated "'that I hurt someone that I truly love "'and have endless respect for.'" And then what possibly was the match that lit the fuse? Your fellow beauty YouTuber Gabriel Zamora chiming in on this situation that didn't seem to have to do with him, but claiming that Tati and everyone else made too big a deal about the situation. And it's not even just her crying over vitamins, it's the fact that all these channels and all these people are just continuously like making videos on it, talking about it, making this a

Starting point is 00:03:05 thing. And I'm like really over vitamins. And I mentioned that because it brings us to Friday with Tati's 43 minute video. And she starts it off by showing how close she and James were. She also shows another clip of Gabriel Zamora making a similar statement about the vitamins. And she seemingly hits this note at the beginning where she's not making this video as just a full on attack. And she accuses James Charles of speaking behind people's backs, spreading lies. She seemingly wants to make this public statement to share her side of this and gain control of the narrative.

Starting point is 00:03:30 And so to start things off, one of the reasons that James Charles started bleeding subscribers had to do with the sort of drama relationship stuff. Right, people not happy that he was not loyal to a friend, that he seemingly betrayed a friend, that he was talking all this terrible stuff in the background.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Also regarding the vitamin situation, Tati claimed that in the past, James Charles had actually bashed the Sugar Bear Hair company. And adding that James Charles said in the past that he couldn't promote Tati's product because his audience was mainly children. Yet what we ended up seeing was that he did this sponsored post for Sugar Bear Hair's sleeping vitamins, which some people had an even larger negative reaction to because in that push, he actually talks about his mental health situation. You guys probably already know about their iconic hair vitamins, but they just came out with brand new vegan sleep vitamins and first of all they taste so bomb but most importantly I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety recently and it always comes late at night when I'm laying in bed thinking which is not fun or fresh um so

Starting point is 00:04:19 I've been taking these 30 minutes before bed and they've been really really helping so if you guys want to check them out you can swipe up. There's also a lot of other noise and drama about how long James Charles knew in advance that he was going to promote this product. But in my opinion, a lot of that noise doesn't matter. The main net result of the situation is he did a promoted push for that. He ended up yes later apologizing. So there was that situation. But the thing that kicked it into a whole different gear is the part of the video and part of the now stories coming out that have people labeling James Charles a predator. James Charles, as it turns out, has a preference for heterosexual men. This is something that appears that he's talked about on Twitter as well as in videos.

Starting point is 00:04:53 Hot. Masculine. Straight. Straight. We just want what we can't have. But according to Tati and now several others, there's more to it. Oh my God, you tried to trick a straight man into thinking he's gay yet again,

Starting point is 00:05:08 and somehow you're the victim. You know, it's really disgusting to manipulate someone's sexuality, especially when they are still emerging into adulthood and don't quite have everything figured out. You are using your fame, your power, your money to play with people's emotions. You're threatening to ruin them. You're threatening to embarrass them. And you're doing that to have them behave sexually in your favor, even

Starting point is 00:05:36 if they're straight. And you know what? That's not okay. He then goes on to give a specific example of a time he did this at her birthday dinner. You were talking in detail about things you wanted to do to the waiter, and when I said, James, he's straight, your response was, doesn't matter, I'm a celebrity. So freaking gross. Also adding that this is not the first time

Starting point is 00:05:55 she has addressed this, saying that she has even talked to Charles about this. I literally, eye to eye, had enough respect for you and love for you and care for you to tell you to go and get some help. I told you that this was not good and that you could have your career completely destroyed. Following that video, yes, we saw a massive reaction. The unsubscriptions started happening, but it hit a completely different level once James Charles made a video of his own. And in

Starting point is 00:06:20 that eight minute video called Tati, he apologizes. To Tati and James Westbrook, I'm sorry for everything that is going on and everything that I've put you through over the past few weeks. Also regarding his interactions with men, he says, And I've learned the hard way about ways that I can interact with boys that I'm interested in and also ones that I should or shouldn't be talking to. This is a conversation that

Starting point is 00:06:56 I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with and it's something that I should have been far more careful with bringing into the public eye. And it was after that video where the subscriptions just really dropped. It also resulted in a lot of big names unfollowing him. We had a lot in the community reacting to all of this news. This, including PewDiePie, who said he didn't want to defend James Charles, but that he didn't see how this, of all scandals, was causing this massive fallout. He's facing the biggest sub drop than anyone's ever faced on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:07:26 Look at all the controversies that has happened on YouTube. Is this really like that comparable? Which to that note, I will say each individual industry, each individual kind of genre on YouTube, it has its own individual bubble, right? Like with this controversy, we are seeing this massive drop with James Charles. But when we look to Logan Paul,

Starting point is 00:07:45 when he had his controversy, he actually went up a million subscribers. So I get the confusion, but different industries have different reactions. Also adding that while he does not feel that he fully has a grasp on the whole situation, he doesn't trust Tati's motives in posting this publicly, thinking that she should have handled this privately

Starting point is 00:07:58 with James instead of exposing him online. Also bringing up that Tati said that James was talking to drama channels, which she said was one of her reasons for making this public. Regarding that, allegedly this is what James that James was talking to drama channels, which she said was one of her reasons for making this public. Regarding that, allegedly this is what James said to one of those drama channels. And Felix said that that made him question Tati. I'm not here to defend James Charles. I just don't think what Tati did is that justified.

Starting point is 00:08:16 He also brings up the age difference that Tati is 37, James is 19. He feels that it's weird for someone to drag a teenager like this. Adding that he felt that Tati was putting herself on this pedestal while painting James to be a villain, and he thinks that it's weird that the internet rewards this behavior. But I would also add here, and this is kind of more just a personal note, everyone in the industry talks,

Starting point is 00:08:32 and I have never heard an ill word about Tati Westbrook. I've only ever heard how kind, dedicated, supportive she has been, so I feel like something must have really, really pushed her to actually go public. James Charles and his apology not contesting anything also really, really solidifies that for me. But Charles and his apology not contesting anything also really really solidifies that for me, but keep in mind that little part there is just my personal reaction.

Starting point is 00:08:49 But still with all that said there were a good number of people that said well this still falls short regarding all the stuff with James Charles and heterosexual men, right? That that is the true focus and that is where there is the most outrage. And regarding that there are videos from young men who talk about their interactions with James Charles. One by the name of Gage talking about James Charles pressuring him, trying to manipulate him regarding his uncertainty about his sexuality. James then saw this as an opportunity to manipulate me as a person who may or may not have been trying to figure things out about their sexuality.

Starting point is 00:09:23 After the fact of telling him that I was straight multiple times. He then started to begin putting a little bit of pressure on me of getting to know me without like disregarding the fact that I told him I was straight because as you all know this person 99., maybe even 100% of the times, goes after heterosexual men. He paints a picture of James Charles blocking him when he doesn't get his way, when Gage says no. After I said no, he got mad again

Starting point is 00:09:56 and blocked me on everything. He talks about James Charles sub-tweeting him when he doesn't get his way. He proceeded to get extremely upset with me because of that and kind of tried to play his emotions and push his emotions onto me to kind of guilt me into trying something that I didn't want to do.

Starting point is 00:10:19 So after I denied any of that, he, I guess, went to Twitter again. Nothing hits like playoff hockey. The road to the cup starts on FanDuel. Your home for live bets all playoffs long. With new features like live SGPs, build a parlay any game, any period. Or stack multiple matchups onto one slip with Same Game Parlay Plus. What's better than playoff hockey?

Starting point is 00:10:41 Overtime playoff hockey. Get more from the game with live overtime markets. Download FanDuel today and get more playoff action with North America's number one sportsbook. It won't take long to tell you Neutrals ingredients. Vodka. Soda. Natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added?

Starting point is 00:11:24 Neutral. Refreshingly simple. There's also another young man that goes by the name Sam. He appears to actually be the waiter from that dinner that was mentioned at the beginning. In his video he says at that time, you know, he didn't know who James Charles was but he recognized his face. Saying after that night his sister convinced him to DM James Charles. The next day my sister convinced me to direct message James Charles

Starting point is 00:11:45 And I did. Sam noting that at this time he was bi-curious He says James invites him to his hotel, he goes, they end up making out. This ends up leading to a situation where Sam later says To James that he's straight. You see text messages where it appears that James Charles is saying I'm confused You're saying you're one thing then another. Ultimately that conversation appears to get to a point where James Charles says that Sam is not straight He didn't think that I was straight. He told me you're not straight. Like I I'll throw up the DM conversation right now.

Starting point is 00:12:14 But then Sam's video goes to a place that I don't know if it's legal. Sam shows a recorded FaceTime conversation that he had with James Charles, which if he recorded that in Seattle, Washington would actually be illegal because that is a two-party consent state, which may or may not be the reason that video has been deleted but it's still of course on the internet now. But all that we see in that FaceTime is James Charles acknowledging that yes, he was talking to Gage at the same time. In addition to that we saw people small and large talking about their alleged interactions with James Charles, this including the likes of Zara Larsson who tweeted I'm cackling because he hit up my boyfriend in the DM several Times knowing damn well, he's straight Anthony Emmerim tweeting when I met James Charles two years ago in a hotel room at Playlist live

Starting point is 00:12:50 He was not only rude as fuck But he was visibly trying to get one of his intoxicated straight friends to cuddle with him to the point where his friend had to Say James fucking stop adding nothing has changed and there are more claims and allegations out there But there a lot of them are from these channels that I haven't been able to verify yet But one of the biggest reactions, and one of the reasons people have been using that word, predator, is something that Jeffree Star tweeted out. Jeffree tweeting, there is a reason that Nathan

Starting point is 00:13:11 banned James Charles from ever coming over to our home again. There's a reason why I haven't seen him since Glam Life Guru's birthday in February. He is a danger to society. Everything Tati said is 100% true. And in a tweet to Jeffree Star's brother, he wrote, why is your brother a predator?

Starting point is 00:13:25 Why'd you really move back to NYC? Exactly, shut the fuck up. But those tweets have since been deleted, which may or may not be connected to a tweet from Tati Westbrook, which said, there won't be a video tomorrow. My heart is still too heavy. I feel like I need to remind you that we can hold truth

Starting point is 00:13:39 and inspire change without grabbing onto hate. Honor your blessings, don't abuse them. Celebrating pain will only bring it to your door. Love you guys, see you soon. But ultimately, as of recording this video, that is where we are. Of course, this is a still developing situation, like I said at the beginning, where I'm definitely trying to simplify things. And as far as my reactions to all of this, a lot of it, just because I'm so disconnected from this community, has to do with more of the industry and more of the numbers involved. All right, part of the question for me is, is this something that James Charles can bounce back from?

Starting point is 00:14:07 Maybe, this is an obvious hit. I mean, his apology video is now one of the top 10 most disliked videos on the website. Also part of the backlash here is that a lot of people thought that James Charles' reaction and apology seemed very fake, but there were still hundreds of thousands of people that hit that like button, so this might not be an end of a career, but a maiming.

Starting point is 00:14:23 As far as a potential bounce back, historically for someone to kind of come back from a really bad experience, and obviously I don't want to equate all past situations to one another, but one of the common threads in someone's redemption arc has been Shane Dawson's involvement. Although in this situation, I don't know how likely that is. While all of this was happening, we saw Shane Dawson tweet

Starting point is 00:14:41 and praise Tati Westbrook's vitamins. And of course, whenever there's a creator in a position like this, where they've been drastically injured, there is always a possibility for more and more stories to come out, whether they are legitimate or not. And that's not to spread doubt,

Starting point is 00:14:53 we've just seen examples of both in the past. And so now we're at a point where people are waiting to see if more and more stories come out. And something we've been seeing more and more are people asking the question of, well, why did no one talk about this publicly before? Right, not the boys that were being pursued, but the other big creators out there. If this was known behavior, why is it seemingly only after he's been bleeding hundreds of thousands and then millions of subscribers were people sounding off?

Starting point is 00:15:13 Or was it just another case of people being scared that a James Charles was so big that they would get crushed? But with all that said, this is the part of the story where I pass the question off to you. My goal here isn't to make or break anyone, it's to try and boil down the situation as much as possible and then hear from you. What are your thoughts? Let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below.

Starting point is 00:15:31 Then let's talk about the situation with Alyssa Milano. Actress Alyssa Milano, if you do not know, sparked outrage this past Friday because of a tweet that she sent. And the tweet in question called for a sex strike in response to restrictive abortion laws. The tweet reading, until women have legal control over our own bodies,

Starting point is 00:15:45 we just cannot risk pregnancy. Join me by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back. And that tweet came days after Georgia became the fourth state in the United States this year to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. And Alyssa Milano expanded on her tweet and what she's aiming to accomplish

Starting point is 00:15:59 to the Associated Press on Saturday, saying, we need to understand how dire the situation is across the country. It's reminding people that we have control over our own bodies and how we use them.'" Milano also noting that women have historically withheld sex to protest or advocate for political reform. And according to the AP,

Starting point is 00:16:13 she cited how Iroquois women refused to have sex in the 1600s as a way to stop unregulated warfare. And adding most recently, she noted that Liberian women used a sex strike in 2003 to demand an end to the long running civil war. Now, unsurprisingly, there was a lot of people who took issue with this strike. The tweet in question, arguing that it assumes

Starting point is 00:16:30 that sex is only enjoyed by men and that women's bodies shouldn't be used as commodities. There were also people confused as how this would be effective. The idea being that if a woman was willing to be a part of a sex strike like this, most likely whoever the man in their life was, they probably have a similar belief.

Starting point is 00:16:44 So why withhold or attack that man? Although it should be noted that that backlash, right, that wasn't a universal reaction. The strike did receive some support from fans, as well as fellow actress Bette Midler, who joined with a tweet of her own. Also, interestingly enough, some of those that were in support of Milano's move,

Starting point is 00:16:58 it ended up being support from conservatives and pro-life activists who co-opted the movement. Candace Owens writing, "'Yes, ladies, leave the terrible bondage of procreation "'to us horrible conservatives.'" Others writing, "'Great idea. "'Absidence is the best way

Starting point is 00:17:09 "'to prevent unwanted pregnancies.'" And as far as the criticism over the tweet, Alyssa Milano says that it doesn't bother her because it's getting people to talk about the war on women. As far as how long this strike should last, she said people have to determine that for themselves. For her part, she says she hasn't decided yet how long she will go without sex.

Starting point is 00:17:22 Reportedly telling the AP, "'I mean, I don't know. "'I sent a tweet last night. "'I haven't really thought much past that this morning. On the note of, yes, she started a conversation, yes, I do agree. I do feel like it's a derailed conversation now. For example, this isn't the only protest. There are kind of more direct-to-the-point protests happening. In fact, last week Milano herself and several others in the film industry responded to this heartbeat bill by threatening to pull productions from the state unless the law was overturned. And that of course is of note because as we've talked about with other stories, if you try to change anything you usually have to affect the money.

Starting point is 00:17:51 And when it comes to Georgia's film industry, it generates billions in revenue and is home to anywhere between 30 to 40 productions at any given time. And that includes massively popular shows like Stranger Things and The Walking Dead. But as far as if that protest or anything else will actually lead to some sort of reversal in Georgia, that remains to be seen. I personally do not believe so. As of right now, it is set to go into effect as of January 2020. And so right now we're gonna have to wait to see, but of course like with everything we talked about, I'd love to know your thoughts on this. What are your thoughts on the sex strike, the industry strike? Do you think anything will actually happen before January 2020? Any and all thoughts, I'd love to hear from you. And then let's talk about why in San Francisco a freelance journalist's home was raided this past Friday.

Starting point is 00:18:26 And because this story has a lot of moving pieces, I'm gonna give you some background info to put it all into context. This past February, the former elected public defender for San Francisco, Jeff Adachi, died at the age of 59. Officials say that he began to have trouble breathing and became unresponsive, prompting his friends to call 911.

Starting point is 00:18:39 Reportedly, paramedics attempted CPR, but they ultimately took Adachi to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police then quickly released a statement telling the public that they were still trying to determine a cause of death, but that no foul play was suspected. However, within days of his passing,

Starting point is 00:18:51 two media outlets said that they had received a copy of the incident reports surrounding Adachi's death, and that included salacious details like that Adachi was with a woman other than his wife when he collapsed, and that that woman was left alone at what was considered by police to be a crime scene for hours. Following this, San Francisco police insisted

Starting point is 00:19:07 that the report was leaked and not authorized to be released, adding that they would be investigating the improper conduct, which then brings us to Friday, May 10th, when freelance journalist, Brian Carmody woke up to police trying to break into his home. And as it turns out, this freelancer was the middleman in this entire incident and he had connected

Starting point is 00:19:20 with the anonymous source who had obtained the police documents, which Carmody ultimately sold to more mainstream media sites. So what exactly happened to Carmody? According to reports, Carmody woke up at around 8 o'clock in the morning on Friday to several police officers trying to break down the gate outside of his home with a sledgehammer. He then went outside to see what the commotion was and he willingly opened his gate to the cops. Officers then immediately placed Carmody in cuffs and produced a search warrant that showed that they were there to investigate his home for stolen or embezzled property. The journalist saying that he was detained from around 8.30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, and that while cuffed, police had obtained a second search warrant for his newsroom,

Starting point is 00:19:50 and when the cops finally left, he said they took his notebooks, computers, cameras, phones, and even his fiance's iPod from her college days, as well as a thumb drive, CDs, and the sought-after police report about Adachi's death found inside a safe. A spokesman for the San Francisco police say that the search warrant was, quote, conducted as part of a criminal investigation into the leak of Adachi's police report' and adding that, "'Actions are one step in the process

Starting point is 00:20:09 of investigating a potential case of obstruction of justice, along with the illegal distribution of a confidential police report.'" And in addition to all of this, representatives from the FBI confirmed that two agents were there during the raid and they insisted that it was only to interview the journalist.

Starting point is 00:20:20 But Carmody says that a few weeks prior to Friday's incident, two officers had stopped by his home and asked him to reveal his source, which he refused to do. Now with this story, one of the big questions is, well, why do the cops care? Like, the real reason. Well, Carmody's quick to note that as a freelancer, selling reports or photos and videos he's obtained to media outlets is his main source of income, and that is actually not why he's in the center of all of this. Since February, when Adachi died, police and city officials in San Francisco have been fighting over how the investigation has been handled. You see, while he was the public defender, Adachi was known as a police watchdog,

Starting point is 00:20:48 really cracking down on misconduct and justice reform. And in addition to the iffy relationship he had with police, ABC7 had reported that just three weeks before his death, Adachi was in the midst of trying to fire the medical examiner's director of operations for lying in a homicide case, who, of course, ended up being assigned as the lead investigator on Adachi's death.

Starting point is 00:21:04 And so you have a lot of people saying, that's a major red flag. Carmody telling the LA Times that with all the salacious details and leaked reports surrounding Adachi's death, his only goal was to confirm the truth. And it just so happened that during his search for it, he managed to obtain the report. Now a big thing to note is that outside of just this

Starting point is 00:21:18 singular story, this is kind of just the latest incident in a never ending battle, which is why we saw the Society of Professional Journalists releasing a statement condemning the raid, saying an attack on the rights of one journalist is why we saw the Society of Professional Journalists releasing a statement condemning the raid, saying an attack on the rights of one journalist is an attack on the rights of all journalists. San Francisco's wrongful actions against Carmody threaten fundamental journalistic freedoms

Starting point is 00:21:33 which are vital to a functioning democracy. You've all seen a GoFundMe started to help replace the equipment taken by the police. But at the same time, you have some arguing that he shouldn't be protected, because as John Hamasaki argued, he's a member of the city's police commission and a defense attorney.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Carmody wasn't reporting on the document, but rather trying to sell it to other news agencies. That's not journalism. But at the same time, you have Carmody's attorney saying, "'These packages he does, "'video and the documents that support the video, "'is done every day by freelancers. "'It's not anything unusual.

Starting point is 00:21:57 "'It's how the news is done.'" But ultimately, that is where we are with the story right now. It's gonna be interesting to see how it develops. And of course, like with everything we cover on this show, in those comments down below, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And that's where we're going to end today's show. And remember course, like with everything we cover on this show, in those comments down below, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And that's where we're going to end today's show.

Starting point is 00:22:07 And remember, if you like this video, you wanna support the channel, just take a second and hit that like button, maybe even share the video. Also, if you're new here and you wanna make sure you don't miss any of the seven new videos we post every week, be sure to hit that subscribe button. Also, if you're not 100% filled in,

Starting point is 00:22:18 maybe you missed the last two Philip DeFranco shows, you can click or tap right there to catch up there, or go to roguerocket.com. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.13 Why James Charles' Historic Downfall Is SO Different. Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star, & More

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.