Beauty guru Tati Westbrook took to YouTube on Thursday to provide an update to her 43-minute-long May 10 video, “BYE SISTER,” in which she methodically called out YouTuber James Charles for various instances of shitty behavior. Aside from plugging her competitor’s vitamin company at Coachella, Tati also accused the 19-year-old makeup vlogger of predatory behavior towards straight men.
At the time if this writing, Tati’s video has been viewed nearly 50 million times, while James Charles has lost approximately three million subscribers on his own YouTube channel in the fallout. His online merch store likewise took a hit.
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In her new video, “Why I Did it …” the 36-year-old explains that she derived no pleasure from taking down her former friend and mentoree and that she had no idea how out of hand the situation would get. The video, she explains, was a last resort after multiple failed attempts to reach out to James Charles.
She also expressed that she would give back all of the new subscribers she’s amassed if she could, and that she just hopes James Charles will get some help–despite the fact that she admits that their friendship is ultimately toast.
“I just hope that you guys see that this is a cut deeper than vitamins,” she says, at one point in the tearful video, to convey the hurt she’s experienced throughout the ordeal.
“I feel like a very public conversation was had between myself and James Charles,” she continued. “I’m sad that it had to get to that, but he did publicly apologize, and I’m just hoping we can leave it at that and close this up. And that people can drop this, and move forward, and let some actual healing happen, and I’m gonna take a solid time out and reflect.”
Tati also promised her fans that she plans to hold herself to a higher standard as the ongoing incident has forced herself to look at what really matters.
“I’m so grateful for this whole journey, because it’s made me a better person,” she said, near the end of the 18-minute-long video. “And I owe that to YouTube, and I owe that to you guys. I hope that James takes a time-out too, and that he addresses things within himself, and understands the power that he has, because this power that we have here on this platform can change lives.”
For his part, James Charles posted a comparably brief, eight-minute-long video apologizing to Tati in the wake of the scandal, but has not commented further. As of Wednesday, the two were planning to meet in an attempt to hash things out so the order can blessedly be restored in the YouTube beauty community.
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