Tati Westbrook claims Jeffree Star is a co-owner of Morphe Cosmetics - Insider

• The events of the 2019 YouTube beauty YouTuber war are being relitigated amid new controversy surrounding Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star. 
• Tati Westbrook revealed new information about her drama with James Charles in a video on Tuesday, claiming that Dawson and Star had stoked her fight with Charles because they were jealous of his YouTube success. 
• Westbrook said that she believed Star was a co-owner of Morphe Cosmetics, a common theory on YouTube, which would play into her theory of why she claims Star and Dawson "manipulated" her to attack Charles. 
• It's unclear what stake, if any, Star owns, but he has claimed to be an investor in the past. In August 2019 makeup company General Atlantic issued a press release announcing that a new partnership with Morphe would grant them majority control of the company.
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In an explosive new YouTube video released on Tuesday, beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook revisited her 2019 drama war with Jeffree Star and James Charles, claiming that Shane Dawson and Star had "manipulated" her into a public feud with Charles. In the video, she referenced a common YouTube theory that Star is a co-owner of Morphe Cosmetics to explain why he may have wanted to stoke drama with him and allegedly attempt to damage his reputation. 

In her new video, Westbrook claimed that Dawson and Star "gaslit" her into making the famous 2019 video, "Bye Sister," in which she spoke out against Charles, her then-former friend, for collaborating with SugarBearHair, a competitor to her own vitamin line.

"I did not make my video because of vitamins," Westbrook said in Tuesday's video. "I made it as a result of all of the poisonous lies that were fed to me by Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star." 

Westbrook claimed that Dawson and Star were intimidated by Charles' rapid success online. "Neither of them were happy with standing in his shadow on YouTube anymore. I believe James Charles was gaining more followers and receiving more views and more press faster than anyone in the history on the platform," Westbrook said. All four of them have millions of subscribers and are among the most famous YouTubers in the world.

In the video, Westbrook alleged that she was "informed" that Star is a co-owner of Morphe Cosmetics, the company that recently released Dawson and Star's collaborative "Conspiracy Palette."

Westbrook suggested that because of Star's alleged involvement in the company, he had an interest in stoking drama with his competitor Charles.

The rumor that Star owns Morphe has circulated online since April, after a YouTube video titled "Jeffree Star owns Morphe!" gained traction, though the details of Star's arrangement with Morphe, if any, remain unclear. The theory that Star is a Morphe co-owner has been used to suggest that Star's criticism of beauty products is biased.

In an April video, Star claimed to be an investor in the company, using the royal "we" to refer to future store openings in a video. Morphe also sells Star's cosmetics line, Jeffree Star Cosmetics. 

Despite his alleged investment, an August 2019 release from private equity firm General Atlantic says they are now majority shareholders of Morphe, though those invested at the time of the partnership "will retain ownership in the company."

A representative for Morphe did not return Insider's request for comment at press time.

Westbrook said that Dawson and Star convinced her to fight with Charles by claiming he was a predator, but that now, she believes they did this because they needed "James marginalized and out of the way for their November launch of the 'Conspiracy Palette.'"

After Dawson faced criticism for wearing blackface makeup in videos in the past, as well making numerous questionable jokes about young girls in his videos, YouTube demonetized his channels and Morphe took Dawson and Star's palette from its website. Westbrook said that the revelation of Star's potential ownership of the brand opened a "Pandora's box" related the the drama. 

Morphe

Westbrook said in her video that she did have "evidence" to back up her claims, and that she cannot share it just yet for legal reasons. "On the advice of my attorneys, I cannot share with all of you right now the evidence that we have accumulated of the events that have occurred," Westbrook said in her video. "However, there will soon come a day where we will be able to present this evidence, and you will be able to see why it is that we believe Jeffree and Shane are responsible for so much fo the damage that has been caused." 

On Tuesday afternoon, Dawson livestreamed on Instagram with his immediate reaction, as he claimed that Westbrook was lying in her video. In a now-deleted tweet, Dawson wrote, "THIS IS A F--KING LIE AND IM LOSING MY MIND." 

A representative for Star did not return Insider's request for comment, and he has not yet publicly responded to Westbrook's video.