Once good friends and creative allies, tattoo artist Kat Von D publicly disavowed her relationship with Jeffree Star and his makeup line with an announcement on her Instagram account yesterday.
Von D and Star have been friends for about a decade, a connection that began when Star sought out Von D for a tattoo and became a regular client, a relationship that bloomed into friendship and included a Star appearance on her LA ink show in 2011. They came to share the commonality of eponymous-named beauty lines, both of which are viewed as successful. Von D launched hers in partnership with Sephora in 2008 and Star began his brand in 2014. As part of the fallout, Von D said she will no longer include a Star-inspired hot pink lipstick named “Jeffree” among her offerings.
Negative sentiment around Star has building for the past few months, starting most prominently with YouTube beauty blogger, Stephanie Nichol, who brought the receipts in a video documenting multiple instances of Star’s ugly behavior. Additional videos and social media posts complaining about his behavior have followed.
Star in response to Von D’s post, posted a series of Tweets dismissing her, saying she they hadn’t spoken in months and that she had become distant after he launched his own makeup label, implying her reaction was rooted in jealousy of his success.
Von D today posted a promised follow up video, explaining her issues with Starr in more detail. Titled “Jeffree Star: It’s so much easier to do the right thing,” Von D, said while it wasn’t her goal to bash Star, she wanted her fans and followers to know she could no longer endorse him, starting by explaining it had been a mistake to ignore his treatment of fans and competitors. “Anyone who imitates him slightly, it’s an easy trigger for him to just attack,” said Von D, adding that Star commanded his followers to go after a smaller lipgloss brand because of a human error related to labeling. Von D also said Starr criticized the same label for having non-vegan ingredients, even though, said Von D, he eats meat and promotes well known brands that are non-cruelty-free and known for testing on animals.
Von D added that she not only encouraged him to launch a makeup line, but also provided a reference for him at the factory that would go on to first produce his line. She went on to say she also introduced him to Detroit graphic artist named BJ Betts, who designed his logo, and discovered just last week that Star hadn’t paid for the art and had blocked the artist’s number when he called asking for payment. Von D herself followed up with Star with a text and alleges he cursed her out and blocked her on social media. She ended the video by apologizing to individuals who had been hurt by Star, saying she regreted helping him start his career.
The story of course doesn’t end here. Star on Twitter wrote there were two sides to every story and that his relationship with Betts is fine, and he has no beef with the designer. Betts as of yet hasn’t commented.
UPDATE:
As promised, Starr last night returned with a video responding to Von D’s accusations, titled, “Dear Kat: It’s Easier To Tell The Truth”:
Star started the video by explaining Von D had become more distant for the past six months and as a result he was surprised to receive the text related to non-payment to Betts.
Responding to Von D’s video in which said she was a big force behind Star starting his brand, Star pointed out while Von D initially said she would invest in his beauty brand, she never followed through. On the logo, Star says he did initially work with Betts, but realized early on that he couldn’t afford his pricing, and instead wehnt with a graphic artist who had worked with his (now retired) clothing line. He pointed out that Betts never made any mention of payment and claims he didn’t know Von D was going to speak publicly about the matter. Star added the matter with Betts had been resolved and indeed, last night the artist said as much on Twitter.
The video then entered into she-said-he-said territory with Star telling a story of “someone very high up” at Two Face Cosmetics, telling Star that when the brand worked with Von D, she not only showed up late to a photo shoot, but was also difficult to work with. The same person also allegedly told Star that Von D had complained about Star stealing ideas from her.
Star also pointed out that while he may himself eat meat, his line has always been vegan, unlike Von D’s line, which now uses vegan ingredients. He also put in some digs about how Von D’s line is owned by Sephora and therefore big and corporate and slow, while his is indie and much more fleet of foot when it comes to trends. He finished on a high catty note, saying he still has love for Von D, adding, “I’m not sure what you’re going through personally, but I wish you the best.” Like Von D, Star said he would disable the comments on the video.
There is now a ton of info out there on Von D and Star’s beauty brands and the personalities behind them, as often is the case, probably more than most people trying to cop a cute lip gloss would want to know. Within the beauty category, there are also a lot of choices with more popping up everyday. At the very least, if one so desires or cares, one at least has the capability of making informed choices on purchasing from either Von D or Star.
