Debating Communities and Networks XIV

Downfall of the Youtube beauty Community

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Aelse.Kabhulo

Abstract

 

This argumentative essay explores the explosive downward spiral of the YouTube’s beauty community marred by scandals, drama, and broken friendships. This argumentative essay will primarily focus on the early days of the YouTube beauty influencer, their dramatic rise to relevancy and the downfall of the biggest site influencers such as James Charles and the start of “cancel culture.” In the YouTube beauty community. This argumentative essay will follow the events of dramageddon 1 and 2 as well as karamageddon it will primarily be focussing on Jeffree Star and James Charles but will include other beauty influencers such as Nikita dragon and their part in that fall of the beauty community.

 

 

On August of 2018 a very famous group of beauty influencers had a very public and messy break down that would go on to be the trigger that launched the downfall of the beauty community. For years the only way to learn all the tips and tricks of applying makeup was to use beauty books or go to a makeup counter. In this day and age looking up makeup techniques is as easy as searching up a couple of key words on the YouTube search bar and a million results will appear immediately at the press of a button. The beauty community has grown significantly in the last decade and have given creators many opportunities to make money doing what they love as well as creating a safe space for people who are interested in beauty. Creators such as James Charles and Jeffree Star have even gone on to amass large fortunes through collaboration with other barands as well as creating their own brands. However, as a result creators and even brands have gotten embroiled in petty fights and scandals, in recent years the YouTube beauty community is more known for their scandals and fights rather than their makeup which has caused the community to be overshadowed as a whole.  The authenticity of the YouTube beauty community has been tainted by drama and scandals and is no longer the community full of creativity and inclusivity that it used to be.

 

The beauty community came to be during the time of web 2.0 as people on social media began to form online identities and present themselves by using the tools that were provided by social media. As the internet became more advanced the purpose of the web began to shift and communities such as the beauty community began to emerge, this community is made up of people who loved beauty such as hair, nails, makeup, and other beauty products (Mavrakis, 2021). On May the 20th of 2007 Michelle Phan became the first YouTube beauty guru, Michelle  Phan was at the time simply a regular college student, her school had provided her with a laptop, which she used the laptop to film YouTube video’s about how to do natural makeup she amassed a large group of followers through these tutorials and even got sponsorships from name brands (Huynh, 2022). Now with over 1.5 billion videos on the topic of beauty the community is very large and has a video for almost everyone which created an educational space online for people to explore makeup whether it’s because they are just starting out or want to improve their skills (Mavrakis, 2021). Jeffree Star, Manny Gutierrez, Laura Lee, and Nikita Dragun were some of the most popular YouTube makeup gurus in 2017  these four grew to become even more famous due to their friendship with each other. Their collaborations were hugely popular and helped them build up their brands and channels and they were even spotted hanging out outside the YouTube collaborations. However, throughout 2017 their friendship started showing fractures and it was speculated that it was because Laura Lee, Nikita Dragum and Manny Gutierrez were replacing Jeffree Star with Gabrielle Zamora in their collaboration videos which was the start of what is referred to as “Dramageddon” (Dodgson, 2021). and the downfall of the YouTube beauty community the community that was once a place where people could go to learn and experiment with makeup and skin care had become a haven for toxicity.

 

 

In November 2017, Jeffree Star sent out a tweet that referred to Lee’s soul as “pure evil” and that he had “cut a lot of negative people from his life” this was only the start however has months later Jeffree Star filmed a docu-series with Shane Dawson at the beginning of August 2018 which caused the drama that had finally settled down to rear up again. In the docuseries Jeffree Star opened to Shane Dawson about his racist past where he would shout at passing strangers with some of the words, he was saying being racial slurs. It could be said that that the discovery of Jeffree Stars racist past was what triggered “Dramageddon.” In august 2018, Gabrielle Zamora tweeted a photo that would irreversibly change the YouTube beauty community forever (Dodgson, 2021). Gabriel Zamora tweeted a photo which had himself, Laura Lee, Nikita Dragum and Manny Gutierrez having their middle fingers raised up. The tweet was captioned “B**ch is bitter because without him we’re doing better.” Fans started speculating that this tweet was aimed towards Jeffree Star this was confirmed after Gabriel Zamora then sent another tweet saying “Imagine stanning a racist? I could never,” and then continuing on to say “Honey, every time I was around him he would constantly say racist things about black people” (Abad-Santos, 2018). These tweets received a huge amount of backlash and in order to defend him many of Jeffree stars fans started digging up tweets from rest of the group and these old tweets ended up haunting many of those that were involved (Dodgson, 2021). and Manny Gutierrez and Laura Lee had initially liked Gabriel Zamora’s tweet but backtracked when they started to receive backlash for the tweet, saying that they were not aware of what the caption of the tweet was. This however did not save them as in the next few days people started to dig up their old offensive tweets.  Gabriel Zamora had dropped the N-word in a tweet from 2012, Nikita Dragon had tweeted that she ‘could never” imagine being black, Manny Gutierrez had posted a snapchat of him giving his uber driver the side eye because he was not able to converse in English. And following the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 Laura Lee had tweeted “Tip for all black people if you pull ur pants up you can run from the police faster” (Abad-Santos, 2018). Dramageddon ended with no one involved left free from a damaged reputation. Dramageddon was the first time that beauty creators were so publicly cancelled the story was covered by many drama channels everyone’s eyes were on the youtube beauty community however it was not in a positive way. Fans were turning away and unfollowing creators due to their past actions and beauty influencers were slowly getting pushed off their pedestal although this was the first time that this had happened it was most certainly not the last only the beginning of something that would go on to plague the beauty world. In fact, it was less than a year later when another YouTube beauty guru was dramatically cancelled partly due to a feud with another creator (Dodgson, 2021).

 

 

On May 10th, 2019, yet another bitter feud broke out when YouTube beauty influencer Tati Westbrook posted a video accusing fellow beauty influencer James Charles of being a manipulative backstabber, She also accused him of allegedly displaying inappropriate behaviour towards straight men. Fans then started unfollowing James Charles with James Charles loosing3 million subscribers in only a few days, even turning the unfollowing of James Charles into a spectacle by live streaming the whole thing. This was dubbed “Dramageddon 2.0” due to how similar it was to the previous “Dramageddon” with both having very high profile friendships falling apart very publicly. In order to counter the allegations made against him James Charles makes a video explaining his side of the story which gained him back his lost subscribers (Dodgson, 2021). Jeffree Star was able to get through Dramageddon 1 and 2 without too much damage to his brand. A month later he then goes on to post a video on YouTube titled “STARTING OVER… SHOULD I MAKE NEW FRIENDS?” where he spoke about “fake friends” “I’ve been going through a transformation lately, a whole new chapter in my life. Just so many things are changing and growing,” he said. “I got rid of so many fake friends in this industry and I’m just trying to find legit people.” Over the next year Jeffree Star went on to post snide comments about Manny Gutierrez and Laura Lee on Instagram and liking tweets the were critical of the two. Neither of these two things affect him at all and the rest of the year pretty good for him. However, during the summer of 2020, the internet completely turns against Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star and they fall from grace this is partly due to resurfaced offensive comments and also because of another YouTube video posted by Tati Westbrook where she accuses them of turning her against James Charles by “gaslighting” and “manipulating” her. This period of time was named “Karmageddon” and many saw this as the beginning of Jeffry Stars downfall. During this period of time the youtube beauty industry was at the lowest it has ever been as even Jeffree Star with his cult like following was unable to escape backlash like he had previous times. This showed that people were beginning to care less and less about these creators and had begun to see them as normal people but not in a good way, people had started to realise they were not as great as they had previously thought and were and that they were extremely horrible and childish people and were turning away from them (Dodgson, 2021).

 

 

With the fall of the YouTube beauty communities’ biggest creators over the years the future of the YouTube beauty community is looking very bleak however it could be speculated that the large amount of drama surrounding the beauty industry could be a part of some kind of PR due to the spike of publicity these creators get during the beauty drama.

 

 

 “Every single time there’s beauty drama, there’s always a spike in searches for their brands on our app and website, and there’s even an increase in people making reviews of their products,” says Savannah Scott, editor of the beauty review app Supergreat. “For example, during the first huge Tati James fight over a year ago now, there was such a noticeable spike in people making mostly positive reviews of Morphe’s James Charles palette that one of our engineers was like, ‘what the hell is going on with this specific product?!’ By then it was an old palette, and people we’re making reviews on it as if it was a recent highly coveted drop. Some of our users just talked about the product itself and its performance, and others defended James Charles and mentioned the drama” (Bateman, 2023).

 

 

The culture that dramageddon has created has continued on as fans go through Instagram posts trying to find any potential drama between friend groups and emerging rivalries. There has also been a change in YouTube landscape many of YouTubes beauty influencers have faced serious allegations or have been cancelled for one reason or another. Once upon a time what felt like almost the whole internet was watching the spectacle that was beauty industry but the interest for these petty squabbles has declined significantly (Dodgson, 2021). The Youtube beauty community was suddenly no longer a place where people only shared their passion and talent and instead had become a breeding ground toxicity. Many of these beauty influencer’s are migrating to TikTok as being a beauty influencer on YouTube becomes harder and harder as people are just not as interested in watching long makeup tutorials anymore (Faust, 2021).

 

Since that fateful day in August of 2018 the beauty industry destroyed itself while trying to get ahead of each other, they ruined their own reputations simply to make each other look bad leading the YouTube beauty community to become a joke, a place that is just full of toxicity and ridiculous nonsense squabbles. It used to a place for people to have fun, learn and practice self-expression and but instead it had become better known for its many scandals and drama. Scandals have become such as huge part of the YouTube beauty community that it is no longer the place that people used to know and love and have overshadowed the things that used to make it such a special place full of creativity and inclusivity. Although there are still beauty influencers on YouTube it is not the community it used to be as there is a much smaller audience for beauty influencers, and more and more people are choosing to pursue a beauty influencer lifestyle on other apps such as TikTok.

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

Abad-Santos, A. (2018, August 28). Laura Lee, Jeffree Star, and the racism scandal upending the YouTube beauty community, explained. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.vox.com/2018/8/28/17769996/laura-lee-jeffree-star-racism-subscriber-count

 

Bateman, K. (2023, March 31). Horoscope April 2023: Brace yourself for change!! Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/59563/1/horoscope-april-2023-aries-solar-eclipse-mercury-retrograde-six-months-change

 

Dodgson, L. (2021). How YouTube’s beauty community fell apart with an explosive feud

called ‘dramageddon’. Retrieved from US edition.

 

Faust, E. (2021, July 17). The downfall of the beauty guru. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://creatorsnetwork.co/the-downfall-of-the-beauty-guru/

 

 

Huynh, V. (2022). The evolution of YouTube Beauty Gurus I neoreach blog. Retrieved, from https://neoreach.com/youtube-beauty-gurus/

 

 

Mavrakis, M. N. (2021). Exploring authenticity in YouTube’s beauty community (Order No.

28414172). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global; ProQuest One Academic. (2555422851). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/exploring-authenticity-youtubes-beauty-community/docview/2555422851/

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14 responses to “Downfall of the Youtube beauty Community”

  1. Deepti Azariah Avatar
    Deepti Azariah

    Hi Aelse,

    Thank you for this interesting contribution to the debates around online community. I was very interested to read about the different influencers involved in Dramageddon. However, I found it even more interesting that their followers were able to cancel them. What particular strategies did they use to do this online? Were there particular hashtags that the followers used to create awareness of the racist undertones of some comments? Would you say this kind of cancellation was because the followers were a networked public or a refracted public (see Abidin)?

    I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

    Deepti
    (Sessional academic, Curtin University–Bentley external and OUA)

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      HI Deepti,

      Thank you for commenting on my conference paper as for your question some of the ways followers were able to cancel influencers were by reposting
      “receipts” such as tweets and videos in order to spread awareness of what these influencers are doing so other people will unfollow and spread these pieces of evidence and with bad press brands are less likely to work with influencers eventually making them irrelevant. one of the biggest hashtags at the time other than #Dramadgeddon and #Karamagedon were #ShaneDawsonIsOverParty under these hashtags people would comment their thoughts on all the scandals. Followers would also put the actual influncers name under the hashtags such as #tati or #jamescharles. i think this type of cancellation is due to a networked public because it is very much out there and the drama went beyond youtube and people who had nothing to do with these creators were weighing in on the drama.

  2. Korina.Wibowo Avatar
    Korina.Wibowo

    Hello Aelse,

    During that time a few years back, I heard and saw many posts about the beauty influencers and their dramas but did not follow closely with what was actually happening, so this paper was an interesting read!

    In your paper you mentioned there was a spike in searches and review of beauty creator’s brands/products during the dramas. Do you think beauty influencers stir more drama publicly for attention and PR rather than to disclose the drama in a more private and well-handled situation that can result viewers to cancel them?

    Thank you,
    Korina

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      Hi Korina

      thank you for reading my conference paper and to answer your question I think these influencers are basics weaponising their platform in order to get a so called justice for whatever situation they find themselves in. However I also think they use the drama to drive traffic towards their videos to make sure they don’t lose relevancy.

  3. Heather Fox Avatar
    Heather Fox

    Hi Aelse,

    As someone who never watched this particular group on YouTube but was aware of the drama happening, this was interesting to read about! It makes me think about how public figures like this feel like they ‘owe’ these explanations, such as Tati’s. I think they feel this pressure to give explanations and details about these relationships, especially when they’re public relationships. And then in turn I also think there is an expectation from their viewers, who feel as though they are entitled to these explanations. They feel entitled maybe because of the intense relationship that these creators fostered with their viewers; they’re already sharing so much of their life so why can’t they share this as well? I think it shows a negative to this community and reinforces the parasocial relationships that the viewers create. Of course, after repeated behaviour, i.e.. creators sharing intimate and private parts of their lives, viewers come to not only expect it but think that they deserve this insight into a creator’s private life.

    That being said, do you think that creators have a responsibility to manage these expectations from their viewers? Or is it understandable for these creators to expect respect from their viewers when they pick and choose what is shared? Personally I think that creators should never be expected to share everything, however I do understand that for loyal viewers, especially young ones, they feel so embedded in these communities that if they are suddenly ‘shut out’ it is a jarring and emotionally charged experience.

    Keen to hear your thoughts!

    Thank you,
    Heather

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      Hi Heather

      I also am just a casual viewer but I had always found the situation interesting I think it’s because as humans we have this innate need to know things about other people and these influencers feed into that. As for your question I do not think these creators should have to share more than they are comfortable with and personally I don’t think they should show more than a surface level because it does create a par-asocial relationship between viewer and creator which can lead to stuff like doxing and stalking due to the fans entitlement to the creators.

  4. Bibiana Bergersen Avatar
    Bibiana Bergersen

    Hi Aelse,

    I really enjoyed reading though your paper! and you mention how the beauty community on YouTube explicitly is very toxic. However i was just wondering if the beauty community on other platforms such as TikTok is much better? and I would love an explanation as to why or why not.

    Thank you
    Bibi

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      Hi Bibiana

      Thank you for reading my paper and I’m glad you enjoyed it as for your question I do not think the beauty community on TikTok is better i do think they aren’t as messy and rarely bring their problems into a public space and I think that has to do with the fact that they have learnt from what happened with the YouTube beauty community so now stay away from that kind of behaviour.

  5. R.Ecroignard Avatar
    R.Ecroignard

    It is regretfull to learn about how human beings that are popular are in a way forced to share their life to public,simply because they are public figures thus they are deprieved from the privacy of their life.everything im their life become matter of public discussion and their audience feels that they are entitled to receive such information about these celebrities.The audiece somehow idolize their life ,their habit ,the way they are.Over the year’s the popularity ,i would say the place that youtube used to be has become something else ,a place of scandal,where celebrities no longer have this liberty to be themselves without critics

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      Hi R.Ecroignard

      Thank you for reading my conference paper I do agree it is really sad that they feel the need to do this but I also think it is possible for them them to pull back and pick and chose what part of themselves they share with their followers and keep the rest to themselves this should lesson the critic that they get cause there is less for others to critic on.

  6. Alisha.Hiscox Avatar
    Alisha.Hiscox

    Hi Aelse,

    Thank you for this in-depth, informative paper on the past Dramageddon, Dramageddon 2.0, and Karmageddon. I remember when all of this drama ensued, and keeping relatively up to date with it, but did not know the specific details, so this paper was very engaging and entertaining. I have noticed, as you discussed in your paper, that the beauty industry has changed significantly since then, and I rarely see these influencers talked about as much, compared to at their peak a few years ago – this may however be due to the fact that I do not engage in beauty content a lot, so the algorithm might be directing me away from influencers such as James Charles. I was wondering if you think that the beauty industry has now shifted into celebrities’ hands. Do you think that since all of this drama ensued, people see beauty influencers as immature and childish, and since a celebrity is seen as having a higher status than an influencer, they now trust celebrities more with beauty brands and discussions? I ask this as Selena Gomez’s makeup brand, Rare Beauty, and Rihanna’s makeup brand, Fenty, have been some of the most successful brands in the past few years.

    Would love to hear your thoughts on this 🙂

    Thanks,
    Alisha

    1. Aelse.Kabhulo Avatar
      Aelse.Kabhulo

      Hi Alisha,

      Thank you for reading my paper and I’m glad you enjoyed it as for questions from what I’ve seen there is a new wave of beauty influencers and they are definitely thriving however I do not think it’s possible for them to reach the heights of fame that their predecessors had enjoyed due to the drama that happened during that time. The current beauty influencers seem to be more withdrawn and picky with what information about themselves they give to their viewers so that par-asocial element that was present in the past isn’t as prevalent. I have also notice d that beauty influencers simply do not stop at just makeup and normally do lifestyle and fashion and so on. As for the celebrities that has always been a thing, celebrities selling makeup the difference between rare and Fenty from other celebrity makeup lines is that they are actually good products that would sell even without the famous name behind it.

      Thanks,
      Aelse

  7. Emma.M.Mcgrath Avatar
    Emma.M.Mcgrath

    Hey Aelse!
    I really enjoyed reading your paper as i remember personally being very invested in this youtube downfall, and how big of a scandal it became on social media.

    I think that the success of youtubers like James Charles, Jeffree Star, and Tati Westbrook was based more off of the drama they produced than their actual interest in makeup and beauty! Do you think it is possible for the youtube beauty community to reach the levels of success and popularity that the community mentioned in your essay was able to reach? How has new platforms such as Tiktok affected the beauty community, particularly the active members who’s main posting platform is youtube?

  8. L.Goapul Avatar
    L.Goapul

    Hi Aelse,

    You have made me discovering things about the dark side of YouTube, you seemed to have gone very Indepth in you explanation which was very engaging on “Jeffree stars fans”. But can you tell me in the future do you consider YouTube to be the platform that influencer would choose to interact with their community or is there a fear that YouTube in general would become outmoded and there would be a fierce competition in terms of streaming platform.

    Kind regards
    L.

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