Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson privately plotted to cut ties with each other, their former friends say
- YouTuber Trisha Paytas says she's cutting ties with her long-time best friend Shane Dawson after he failed to stand up for her this week.
- Paytas said Dawson privately called Jeffree Star "a villain" and said he didn't know how the two could "get away from him" after Star bullied Paytas on a 2020 Las Vegas trip.
- Star's former friend Oscar Wylde also says Star privately asked him at what point he should "cut ties" with Dawson due to the YouTuber's damaged reputation.
YouTuber and frequent drama-starter Trisha Paytas cut ties with her best friend of 12 years, Shane Dawson, after he failed to stand up for her this week against makeup mogul Jeffree Star. Since then, Paytas has gone on to detail what she calls the "fake a-- friendship of three years" between Dawson and Star, saying that Dawson privately called Star "a villain in this movie" and said he didn't know how he could "get away from him."
Since Paytas' explosive callout of the pair, which started after Star's former hairstylist threatened Paytas in an Instagram Live, another one of Star's former friends has also come forward to suggest behind-the-scenes tension. Oscar Wylde, a DJ and producer, says Star asked him in 2020 at what point he should "cut ties" with Dawson as he was being canceled.
"Literally the f---ing day after Tati filmed her video," Wylde tweeted, referring to June 2020 when makeup YouTuber Tati Westbrook accused Star and Dawson of "manipulating" her into making her infamous 2019 video "Bye Sister" about their beauty competitor James Charles.
"I truly feel my kindness or empathy was taken advantage of," Wylde said in a follow-up tweet. Wylde claims he has had Star "blocked on socials" since November 2020. While Wylde didn't specify why his friendship with Star ended, he said Star was unsupportive and played "games" on social media that Wylde didn't agree with.
In a follow-up video, Wylde called Paytas his friend and said he vividly recalls Star said Dawson had "more than three strikes" against him after Dawson's reputation shattered over the course of June 2020.
Read more: A timeline of how the internet turned against the top YouTubers Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star
"It was more of just friends sitting in a kitchen, talking, and him addressing the elephant in the room which was that day Tati bringing up the situation and Shane going on live and basically kind of having a meltdown," Wylde said. "I remember a bunch of videos had surfaced and he was like 'I hadn't been aware of this stuff.'"
Wylde went on to say that "it's crazy" Star acts like he wasn't involved in bullying Paytas on a February 2020 Las Vegas trip, adding that he heard Star go "back and forth" with his employees about how Star believed influencer Nikita Dragun had copied his merchandise. He ended his video by telling Dawson to "wake up" and support Paytas instead of remaining friends with Star.
Paytas criticized Dawson and Star on the 'Frenemies' podcast
In Tuesday's episode of "Frenemies," the podcast co-hosted by Paytas and H3H3's Ethan Klein, Paytas revisited her Las Vegas trip with Star. The hairstylist who threatened Paytas, Wylde, and another former friend of Star's who made a video about Star's alleged behavior on the trip were also present in Las Vegas.
Paytas accused Star of telling her to jump off the balcony of the hotel they were staying at after she talked about being suicidal in the past. She also said Star knocked her hand away from a nacho and told her "don't eat" after making fun of her weight and skin. Paytas went on to say that she left a $900 Balenciaga sweatshirt in Star's hotel room and that she texted him to ask for it so she could go home.
"I'm like 'Hey can I just come and get my Balenciaga from you guys,' because they ditched me for dinner," Paytas said. She then claimed Star said his assistant Maddie "threw it in the trash," and Paytas left the city without her sweatshirt. Two months later, Paytas says Boomkack, AKA Juan Alan Tamez, Star's makeup artist, told her he had the Balenciaga and offered to "Uber it" to her.
Paytas initially brought up Star's behavior on the trip because his former hairstylist, Hair by Jay, corroborated many of the claims of bullying that Paytas first accused Star of. After Paytas reacted to Hair by Jay's Instagram Live, Star responded that he had fired the stylist and that Jay's insults didn't reflect Star's views. But Paytas said she didn't accept Star's excuses or apology, because she was told that he continued to insult her past drug abuse in private.
Read more: Jeffree Star unfollowed his longtime assistant and friend Madison, causing rampant fan speculation
"This is just an exact representation of Jeffree and what sucks is Jeffree will always be successful and he'll always keep going and he's an actual bad person," Paytas said. She went on to say that when she saw Star appear on Dawson's fiancé Ryland Adams' podcast, she felt like she had to say Star is "an evil person."
"I've defended [Dawson] so hard and that was really why I made the video," Paytas said. "I couldn't defend this person anymore. People hate me for defending him blindly."
In a podcast responding to Paytas, Adams said he was "confused" about the situation and that he stands with Paytas over Hair by Jay - although he didn't say he stands with Paytas above Star. He also said he "loves" Paytas, that he "feels awful," and that he wishes Paytas had approached him privately so they wouldn't have drama on the internet.
Paytas said she expected Dawson to reach out to her after Hair by Jay's video, but that he didn't text her until Paytas started talking about Star's appearance on Adams' podcast. She says Dawson asked her to "come over and forget this all happened," which Paytas declined. She has since blocked Dawson and Adams and says she wants to take a break from social media and move on. Dawson hasn't publicly commented on the situation.