Forget Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian‘s spat — there’s another online feud that’s dividing the beauty industry.
Former LA Ink star, tattoo artist and cosmetics creator Kat Von D has publicly distanced herself from fellow makeup artist Jeffree Star over his “bullying” attitude, releasing a “tell-all” YouTube video.
In the video and accompanying Instagram post, Von D declared their nearly 10-year friendship over.
“After years of making excuses for and rationalising Jeffree’s inappropriate behaviour (including promoting drug use, racism, and bullying) I can no longer hold my tongue after recent events,” she wrote.
A former MySpace musician and founder of Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Star has recently faced accusations of bullying through comments he made against fellow YouTubers who had given his range of liquid lipsticks, lip scrubs and eyeshadows negative reviews.
He also allegedly threatened to beat up fellow Instagram beauty guru MakeupByShayla. Star tweeted, “All these Instagram girls are all talk. I’ll beat you to the f**king ground and mean it”, after claiming Shayla told his friend Mariale she needed lip fillers to fix her “disproportionate” face.
There was also controversy when the 30-year-old filmed himself on Snapchat throwing Kylie Jenner’s lip glosses in the rubbish bin, an act he later addressed in a video, explaining he was disappointed in the products and did so as a consumer. (Post continues after gallery.)
Jeffree Star on instagram
In Von D’s YouTube video, entitled “Jeffree Star: It’s so much easier to do the right thing”, she also alleges he stole the artwork used for his products by not paying the artist, B.J Betts, whom Von D had recommended to him.
“BJ drew all his logos and Jeffree went forward with them – and it’s the logos you see now on all the caps on his lipsticks. [Star] never, never paid BJ,” she claims, showing images of the original sketches on her phone.
“BJ would call him, and Jeffree basically blocked his phone.”
“In no way is this video or my post meant to bash anybody, I’m just simply stating the truth, I’m stating the facts and I think it’s important for my fans and followers to know where I stand with this,” she says.
In a matter of hours, the video has already been viewed almost half a million times.
The pair reportedly first became friends in 2006, with Star appearring on Von D’s show Miami Ink five years later. The pair has enjoyed a close relationship ever since, regularly sharing pictures together and supporting each other’s pursuits.
In her video, Von D claims she “was there” when Star created his cosmetics line in 2014, saying she was one of the first to encourage him in the venture.
Watch: Mia Freedman interviews the original Lipstick Queen, Poppy King. Post continues after video.
In 2014, Von D even named a lipsticks from her range which is stocked in Sephora in a hot pink shade after him. She announced she would be pulling the product from her collection.
Star has since responded to Von D’s claims on Twitter, refuting all Von D’s allegations.
Less than 12 hours later, he tweeted that he would be sharing his side of the story.
Von D stands firm by her message.
Meanwhile, the tight-knit and, ahem, dedicated online beauty community is in a frenzy, with the topic dominating forums and Reddit threads as many quickly take sides after seeing the faces of two of the most popular online beauty brands publicly fall out.
Both “sides” are reporting horrific name-calling and abuse from fans of the other.
One thing’s for sure; with Star’s responding video still to come, there’ll only be more fuel for the fire.
Image: Instagram/@jefreestar/@katvond
Where do you stand on the matter?
Top Comments
My biggest issue with him is there was a video doing the rounds of him saying he wanted to bleach a black ladies skin white with acid :( he can be truly vile. Just have to read his tweets or comments to his followers.
I can kind of see why Kat felt the need to publicly distance herself though. Their brands have been closely linked in the past and I get the feeling he's going to go down pretty quickly for his actions, so you wouldn't want to be apart of that.
I will never understand why this sort of thing needs to be played out in public. If you have a problem with someone, talk to them about it, deal with it, move on. Don't create more drama by posting shit about it online. Grow up.