James Charles

Tati Westbrook vs James Charles: Bye Sister and No More Lies

The public conflict between Tati Westbrook and James Charles began in April 2019 after Charles promoted SugarBearHair at Coachella, a competitor to Westbrook's Halo Beauty supplement company. Westbrook posted emotional Instagram Stories saying she felt betrayed, while Charles apologized and said the SugarBearHair arrangement had been made because the company helped him obtain a safer festival pass. After Gabriel Zamora publicly criticized Westbrook's handling of the disagreement, she uploaded the 43-minute BYE SISTER... on May 10, 2019. The video publicly ended her friendship with Charles and expanded the dispute beyond vitamins and business loyalty into serious allegations about his behavior toward straight or questioning men and his use of fame, money, and influence. Charles initially responded with an approximately eight-minute apology titled tati, apologizing to Tati and her husband without offering the detailed factual rebuttal that came later. During the following week, numerous creators and other public figures entered the dispute, while Charles lost millions of YouTube subscribers and Westbrook gained millions. On May 18, Charles published the 41-minute No More Lies. He presented screenshots, messages, and other material disputing substantial parts of Westbrook's account, including the SugarBearHair timeline and the interaction with Seattle waiter Sam Cooke. He denied using fame, money, or power to obtain sexual activity from men, while acknowledging that he had sometimes been overly forward in messages and saying he intended to change his approach. Westbrook initially responded that No More Lies contained lies and half-truths and that she stood by her videos. The next day, however, she said that she and Charles had communicated through an intermediary and that they believed ending the public fight was best for themselves and the community. Jeffree Star also apologized for escalating the conflict, and Charles agreed to stop discussing it publicly. The public ceasefire did not immediately erase the personal consequences. Charles cancelled his Sisters Tour and later spoke about the severe effect the controversy had on his mental health. Around December 2019, according to Westbrook's later account, Charles visited her home and the two privately apologized to and forgave each other. Westbrook disclosed that reconciliation in her June 30, 2020 video BREAKING MY SILENCE..., in which she apologized to Charles and alleged that Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson had supplied her with frightening claims about Charles and manipulated or influenced her decision to publish BYE SISTER.... Those allegations against Star and Dawson were themselves disputed and are not treated as established fact. In 2021, Westbrook said she had stopped communicating with the broader beauty community. In a September 2024 interview with Michelle Phan, she again discussed the background to the 2019 decision, including an unverified claim that an unnamed person warned her that a YouTube executive intended to remove Charles' channel. No later public material reviewed establishes whether Westbrook and Charles currently maintain a friendship. Later 2024, 2025, and 2026 materials found during research were primarily retrospectives and commentary rather than a renewed direct conflict between the two.