Buckle your seatbelts, everyone. This is going to be a wild ride.
There is some crazy drama going on in the YouTube beauty community involving Jeffree Star (10M subscribers), Gabriel Zamora (736 thousand subscribers), Laura Lee (4.5M subscribers), Manny MUA (5M subscribers), and Nikita Dragun (1.6M subscribers).
The five influencers have all been accused by fans (and each other) of being racist.
The drama all started when Gabriel tweeted a shady photo (that has since been deleted) of Laura, Manny, Nikita, and himself flipping off the camera with the caption, “B*tch is bitter because without him we’re doing better.” The caption is a reference to Jeffree, a former friend of Laura and Manny’s.
Though the tweet was just meant to be just a little shade thrown in Jeffree’s way, it turned out to be a career-jeopardizing moment for not just Gabriel, but also Manny, Laura, and Nikita.
Jeffree’s fans were not feeling the way he was being portrayed so they dug up some of Gabriel and Co.’s problematic tweets from the past and they’re not pretty.
Just another reminder (new tweets) that Laura Lee is an ACTUAL RACIST. pic.twitter.com/jArbsX8XdP
— Michelle 💖 (@michellepiazzax) August 14, 2018
As a result of this massive tea spill, Laura, Manny, Nikita, and Gabriel lost a TON of followers and subscribers, which ultimately means money.
Laura especially took a huge hit from the controversy. According to SocialBlade, she has lost over 469,000 subscribers, which equates to thousands of dollars of loss per year. Her products and partnerships were also dropped from Morphe, Ulta, BoxyCharm, ColourPop Cosmetics, and Diff Eyewear.
For damage control, Laura issued an apology statement and video, which has become the standard procedure for YouTube stars in the midst of a scandal. It’s a routine that even Jeffree is no stranger to, having released an apology video himself in 2017 following accusations of racism.
Laura’s video has been criticized for not being genuine, putting the blame on other people, and having blatantly false statements. Oh, and the cringe-worthy fake crying. The video even turned into a meme.
Since posting their statements, the influencers have not been as active on their social media accounts, which is probably for the best since it doesn’t seem like this controversy is going to blow over anytime soon.
What do you think: should empty apologies get you out of tweets that are this bad? Sound off in the comments!