Former MySpace music star and make up artist Jeffree Star, who launched his own makeup line in 2014, as of late has been attracting more negative coverage than usual in response to multiple incidents involving run-ins with fellow beauty bloggers and fans. YouTube beauty blogger Stephanie Nichol with close to 106,000 followers rounded up all the accusations in one neat video, first reviewing Star’s makeup (which seems besides the point given her conclusions), and then followed (at 20:00) with video and screen shot evidence of Star going after several individuals, using sexist, racist and threatening language.
Nichol comes across as very matter of fact and said she only made the video because she wanted people to understand that “every time you buy something from [Star], you’re basically condoning this behavior,” and at the beginning of the video explained she chose not to monetize the video to remove any question she was motivated by a wish to create controversy and attract viewers.
She admited some of the events she has highlighted occurred ten years ago, but noted several more recent incidents, including Star’s May run in with YouTube blogger Rocky Road Kill (over 42K followers), a fan of Star who came under attack by him and his followers after he made a video about an item from Star’s makeup line falling apart upon first use (see Rocky’s videos below).
Last month, Star also went after another YouTube makeup blogger named Shaylah (over 257K YouTube followers) and called her a “fucking cunt” and “bitch” on Snapchat. An ugly exchange also took place on Twitter, in which Starr wrote in one Tweet, “All these Instagram girls are all talk, I’ll actually beat you to the fucking ground and mean it.”
In perhaps the most horrifying video of all, Star is shown on camera in what is supposedly a comedic exchange with “Sharloid” in which Star discusses throwing battery acid on a black woman’s face “to lighten her skin tone.” Star goes on to reference a “Keysha,” describing her as a “black bitch,” who he says he wants to contact to wash his car. Granted, the video was recorded in 2007, but that was only nine years ago. For further context, Sharloid provided a lengthy explanation for the video, his on-again-off-again relationship with Star, as well as additional footage below.
Nichol is nothing if not thorough and beneath the video, she provided about 20 links documenting the above items along with additional ones not mentioned here.
On whether Star has immunity to attack other minorities because he himself is one, Nichol astutely commented, “Just because you’re part of one marginalized group, being a gay man, does not give you carte blanche to attack every other group and think that you have the right to do so.
Nichol concluded the video stating she will never buy or recommend any of his products, saying “He is not a good man.” She also made the solid point that Star’s followers who cut him slack because he has faced his own demons and battles as a gay man, are mistaken, and explains, “What do you think his fan Rocky Roadkill is going through? He’s basically a younger version of him and instead of being kind to him, he shit on him.”
Nichol isn’t the first person to call out Star’s messy behavior; it’s fairly well known within the makeup world, but a lot of people don’t care or insist he’s recognized his wrong ways and changed, with some pointing out he has close friends/associates who are black so he can’t be racist, a folly-filled conclusion if ever there was one.
Without getting into a virtual diagnosis of Star’s issues, it seems pretty clear he has a mean streak a mile deep and is prone to going after people he perceives as either as weaker than or a threat to him. There are tons of people out there selling makeup, the industry is on fire and everyone in the world is jumping in and offering up their version. If after all this you still can sleep with giving Star your dollars then so be it. Just know there are other less controversial choices available to you.
