On Tuesday, YouTuber Tati Westbrook uploaded a video, called "Breaking My Silence...," where she apologizes to James Charles and calls out YouTubers Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson for being involved in her infamous "Bye Sister" video about James Charles.
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The video was criticized for painting him as predatory, manipulative, and a bad person, while using gay stereotypes to criticize him.
"We compared DMs, texts, and stories of what happened behind the scenes," Tati said. "We apologized to each other, forgave each other, and agreed to wait patiently until it was right for me to share my story."
Now, let's get into this video and how Tati said she met Shane and Jeffree, they manipulated her, "gaslit" her, and ultimately influenced her to make the "Bye Sister" video.
She said James offered to be beside her in this video because James deserves her first apology. "I am really sorry, James. I've said that privately, but I want you to hear that publicly."
"I did not make my video because of vitamins. I made it as a result of all the poisonous lies fed to me by Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star. James, I am so sorry I allowed myself to be poisoned and weaponized against you."
So, what was that information? "I was told there were a lot of victims that were going to come forward to destroy you. I should have known better to fall for their lies and manipulation. I allowed Shane and Jeffree to drive a wedge between our friendship."
Tati said as she started befriending Jeffree, she realized he had become obsessed with bad-talking James. At Tati's birthday, she said Jeffree would say how out of control James was, and even called her the next morning to apologize for James' behavior. "All he could do is speak poorly of James Charles."
Soon enough, Jeffree had introduced Tati and Shane. They hung out, opened up to each other. "I shared that I had been the victim of sexual assault. I spoke about my faith and told him how deeply I feel for others. He shared with me that he was an empath and that he could feel all of my pain."
Tati said Shane wanted her to be a part of Shane and Jeffree's docuseries, which, conceptually, was going to change because of all the drama happening in the YouTube community.
The two continued feeding Tati dirt on James. Tati claims in the video that "Shane said James Charles was a monster and that James was hurting minors." Tati said Shane told Tati he was going to interview the alleged victims because James needed to be stopped.
Now, the question is whether Shane and Jeffree were involved in Tati's career-damaging "Bye Sister" video. They've both denied involvement, but Tati said "Shane did not just know about my 'Bye Sister' video. He offered to help edit it, he even offered to design the thumbnail and help title it."
Keep in mind, Shane just denied that he was involved in the video two weeks ago, tweeting "Did I have any involvement in the video? No."
For everyone who hasn't gotten the chance to read what Shane Dawson said before he deleted it. He wants to be all shady but can't stand when people treat him like how he knew James Charles was being treated. So there's that.
Shane deleted his tweet, but this user screenshotted his tweets.
Tati said the night before posting her "Bye Sister" video, Jeffree sent her an audio file from an alleged victim. "He told me to listen to the pain in their voice. The audio was clearly a small part of a conversation. It wasn't enough to contact the authorities. It was enough to scare me."
Well, Tati's infamous "Bye Sister" video went up and went mega-viral. James faced backlash, Tati faced backlash, and Shane and Jeffree "fanned the flames" on Twitter. Remember how Jeffree called James a "predator" in a now-deleted tweet?
Tati said Shane even asked her if he could film her in the aftermath of the video, and she declined. Shane then included the drama in a trailer for their docuseries for publicity and assured Tati it would only be one episode.
As a result of the drama, backlash, and controversy, Tati said she left town, lost weight, couldn't sleep, and suffered more emotionally.
"It wasn't until the series ended in September, when James Charles and I met, that I started to realize what had actually happened. A few people have come forward. The pieces of what had actually happened are coming together. Make no mistake — this is far from over."
Tati said she has accumulated evidence against Jeffree and Shane, but she cannot share it, per the advice of her attorney. "However, there will soon come a day where we will be able to present this evidence and you'll be able to see why it is that we believe Jeffree and Shane are responsible for so much of the damage that has been cost."
So, why would they do this? Jealousy, Tati said. "Jeffree resented that so much of his business was centered around his biggest rival, and Shane did not like that James Charles wanted to make a documentary. Neither of them were happy with standing in his shadow."
Tati said Shane and Jeffree denying their involvement in her video in interviews and online is "cowardly and defamatory."
WOW. Well, so far, Shane has only responded on his Instagram Live, freaking out, saying that Tati is "manipulative." He also says she is fake-crying:
Shane Dawson freaking over Tati’s new video on IG Live