UncoveredA Complete Breakdown Of All Shane Dawson’s Scandals And Feuds

Tati Westbrook and James Charles

It’s no secret that the YouTube beauty community was shook to the core in May 2019 when Tati accused James of lying, manipulating and being a disrespectful person, after he supported one of her rival vitamin companies. A year later, in June 2019, she posted a video, claiming that Shane and Jeffree Star “coerced and manipulated” her into turning on James.

Tati explained that although she did not agree with some of James’ actions, “none of her concerns became overwhelming until she met Shane.” She claimed that she only made the video “because of all the poisonous lies that were fed to her by Shane and Jeffree.”

“I should have known better than to fall for their lies and manipulation but in the end I failed and, instead, I allowed Shane and Jeffree to put a wedge between our friendship,” the YouTuber said. “I expressed how much a specific decision [James] made, which I perceived as betrayal, had hurt me. I was very worried and heartbroken, but I did not lie in that video. I never called James Charles a ‘predator’ and I never said that James Charles was a ‘danger to society.’ My video was not made with any malice. I did not publicly air any of the horrific accusations that were being made behind-the-scenes.”

Shane was quick to respond to her allegations.

“This is a f**king lie and I’m losing my mind,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet.

He also spoke out about the situation during an Instagram Live.

“You are so manipulative,” he said, while watching Tati’s video. “You’re fake crying. That is not real. Oh my God.”

Jake and Logan Paul

After Shane released his YouTube docuseries The Mind Of Jake Paul in 2018, the brothers weren’t too happy after he investigated if they were both “sociopaths.” Logan called Shane out in a YouTube video and said the information in the series was presented in an “extremely misleading” way. Jake also responded at the time via Twitter and said he was “concerned” because Shane was “already labeling me a ‘sociopath.'”

Aside from the Paul Brothers, viewers weren’t happy with the series as a whole and it received major backlash because for using an outdated term for antisocial personality disorder. At the time, Shane apologized, but continued to release the rest of the series.

Since then, there’s been no bad blood between Jake, Logan and Shane until July 2002 when Jake mocked him for being “canceled” online.

Jaden and Jada Pinkett-Smith

In June 2020, Jaden and Jada called out Shane for “sexualizing” their sister and daughter, respectively, Willow Smith in a resurfaced clip. Fans recirculated an old video of the 31-year-old YouTuber, where he appeared to be touching himself while standing in front of a poster of Willow, from when she was 11 years old.

“SHANE DAWSON I AM DISGUSTED BY YOU. YOU SEXUALIZING AN 11 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY SISTER IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM FUNNY AND NOT OK IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT,” Jaden wrote in a series of Twitter posts. “I’M SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS.”

Mom to Jaden and Willow, Jada, also posted, “To Shane Dawson … I’m done with the excuses.”

Willow never publicly responded to the resurfaced clip, nor did Shane publicly responded to Jaden or Jada.

Rihanna

In 2009, Shane allegedly posted an insensitive tweet about the singer that has since resurfaced online. According to screenshots reposted by fans, in a since-deleted tweet, the YouTuber seemingly made fun of her history with domestic violence and said that she’s “setting a bad example.” At the time, a fan responded and agreed to the tweet, but now the original message seemed to have been removed.

Rihanna never publicly addressed Shane’s comments nor did he publicly address backlash.

Rebecca Black

Although he did not have an outright feud with the YouTube star, the internet stars were embroiled in a scandal together. In a video clip that resurfaced and went viral online, Rebecca and Shane were called out by fans for seemingly “mocking the holocaust” in 2014.

Rebecca spoke out and apologized for the “offensive” joke and urged Shane to do the same

“I am deeply ashamed to have taken part in such an offensive bit. Yes I was 16, uncomfortable, and didn’t know this was coming. Shane, I know that deep down you are trying to learn and grow. But we must do better [and] take complete responsibility for how harmful this is,” the “Friday” singer wrote on Twitter.

Shane never publicly responded to Rebecca’s social media posts.

Beauty Community

In a Twitter rant from June 2020, Shane slammed the entire beauty community and announced his official departure after creating a full line of makeup in collaboration with Jeffree Star Cosmetics.
“The beauty gurus who are ALWAYS involved in scandals are ALL THE F**KNG SAME. They are all attention seeking, game playing, egocentric, narcissistic, vengeful, two-faced, ticking time bombs ready to explode. And I’m OVER it,” Shane wrote, according to screenshots of his statement. “Yes, they are talented, creative, smart and love makeup. But they also joined a side of the Internet that is obsessed with looks, money, power, fame, screenshots and subtweets.”
He continued, “Releasing private texts, voice memos, emails and other ‘receipts’ as a way to point yourself in a particular light, or someone else in a bad light is weird to me and I will never engage in that. That is a game that they know how to play well and I would rather eat my own hands off than play it.”

At the time, he also denied any involvement in the Tati and James scandal from May 2019.

“Let’s not pretend that the beauty world isn’t negativity first, makeup second. It’s just how it is and I’m sick of people pretending to be so above it all. And with that said I love watching beauty channels of all sizes and I will continue to watch and support them. The dramatic ones, the non-dramatic ones, and the ones who genuinely just love to show their makeup skills,” he said.

“So go, enjoy the gurus. Enjoy the circus. Unsubscribe from me if you are mad that I’m no longer engaging in it. Unsubscribe to gurus who you don’t like. Subscribe to gurus you do like. Just don’t take the beauty world as seriously as I did, or as so many of us did in 2019. It’s not worth it and I feel like we all lost a bit of our soul during dramageddon,” Shane concluded. “As for my channels, I’m done with the beauty world.”

Blackface and Past Racist Videos

Throughout his career, Shane has made multiple apology videos after the use of the N-word and blackface in various old videos that resurfaced online. The first was in 2014, then again in 2018 and, most recently, in 2020.
“Blackface was something I did a lot — like, I did it a lot on my channel — and there’s no excuse for it. There’s literally no excuse,” he said in the June 26, 2020 video. “I made a video six years ago talking about it and I gave excuses. And I knew it was wrong, I never wanted to do it again, but I didn’t do the work. I didn’t actually look into the history of it and why it’s so wrong, and why people were so upset.”

YouTube

Following backlash from his past racially insensitive comments, in June 2020, YouTube demonetized Shane’s channel. According to Buzzfeed News, the video streaming site confirmed that they demonetized his account for an indefinite amount of time starting on June 29, 2020. That means he won’t be able to make money through advertising on his videos, which get tens of millions of views each month.

Sony also seemingly removed half of the videos from his Beautiful World Of Jeffree Star docuseries over “copyright” claims. Four of episodes have been taken down and can no longer be played. Instead, the message, “This video contains content from Sony ATV Publishing, who has blocked it on copyright grounds,” flashes across the screen. According to PopBuzz, they had a combined total of around 88 million views. It’s unclear why the vlogs were taken down or if it has anything to do with Shane’s recent drama, but Catie Turner — the artist whose music was featured the doc — denied her involvement.

Shane never addressed either YouTube’s demonetization or the removal of videos publicly.

Morphe Cosmetics And Target

After rumors that Morphe Cosmetics removed the makeup collaboration between Shane and Jeffree from their site hit the web, the brand confirmed that that they were cutting ties with Jeffree Star Cosmetics.

“Today we’ve made the decision to cease all commercial activity related to Jeffree Star and affiliated products. We expect this to conclude within the coming weeks,” they wrote in a statement on Twitter. “As we look to the future, we will continue to share updates on what lies ahead for the Morphe brand.”

Similarly, in a statement made to Insider  on June 29, Target confirmed that they would no longer be selling Shane’s books — I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson and It Gets Worse: A Collection of Essays — in their stores.

“We’re committed to creating an experience in which all guests feel welcomed and respected. We’re in the process of removing these books from our assortment,” the statement read.