Jeffree Star is the most infamous beauty guru on the internet, an Insider poll shows

• Jeffree Star is the most recognized and most disliked beauty influencer online, according to an Insider poll.
• The data says Star, who has 40 million followers, is known by more than 1 out of 5 respondents.
• But 55% of people surveyed have an unfavorable view of the controversial cosmetics CEO.

Jeffree Star may have risen from MySpace fame to YouTube stardom to become the biggest name in the online beauty world, but his notoriety came at a steep cost. According to a new Insider survey, Star is the most infamous beauty influencer, with the highest name recognition and highest dislike-to-like ratio in the beauty community.

Insider polled 1,040 people about their feelings and level of familiarity with over 60 of the biggest stars on social media. Respondents said whether they recognized the name of each influencer and celebrity and whether their opinion of them was favorable or unfavorable.

Included in the list of names were the top beauty influencers - Star, along with his fellow YouTubers James Charles and Tati Westbrook. Star was the most recognized among the three, with 22.5% of survey-takers knowing who he was. But he was also the most disliked, with 55.7% of respondents having an unfavorable opinion of Star, and only 19.6% having a favorable opinion of him.

Star also fell within the top-10 ranking of the most-disliked influencers from Insider's poll. He was the sixth most-disliked influencer overall, according to respondents, sandwiched between Musical.ly alum Jacob Sartorious, who was slightly more disliked, and TikToker Zoe Laverne, who was slightly better-liked.

With more than 40 million followers across platforms and a competitive beauty business, Star has achieved both celebrity status online and an exorbitant lifestyle. He owns a $14 million mansion in Hidden Hills, California, spends part of the year at a 70-acre Wyoming ranch, and commands a fleet of luxury vehicles (plus a designer closet). He's one of the highest-paid YouTubers, but money can't buy a pristine reputation.

Star is constantly in the drama news cycle, but he's also known for controversies involving allegations of racism and sexual assault

It comes as little surprise that Star is so notorious. As one of the oldest influencers who's maintained an audience for more than 15 years, Star has weathered numerous scandals - many by his own design, and all of which kept his name and cosmetics empire relevant.

Star first found online fame on early 2000s social media platforms, like MySpace and Stickam, a livestreaming platform. During his rise to fame, when Star was in his early twenties, he became known as a provocateur who took on an edgy, offensive persona to get attention.

Clips from Star's past have circulated up until the present day, and contribute to his reputation of saying and doing racist things. Star acknowledged his past racist actions in a 2017 apology video, in which he denied being racist himself. More recently, Star was accused of using racist language on a February 2020 trip to Las Vegas.

In an October 2020 investigation, Insider reported allegations of violence and sexual assault against Star during his early career. Star was accused of using a tasing device on a homeless teenager in 2009, after which the accuser says Star performed non-consensual oral sex on him. Insider then published documents that say a Jeffree Star Cosmetics executive paid Star's sexual-assault accuser $45,000 after he attempted to recant his story.

While the most severe allegations against Star include sexual violence, he's also been accused of bullying his peers in the YouTube community. Most recently, YouTuber Trisha Paytas said that Star bullied her to her face and behind her back about her weight, skin, and past drug abuse while on the same 2020 Las Vegas trip that Star was accused of using racist language on.

Star has also been at the center of explosive feuds in the YouTube beauty community, most notably the May 2019 beauty battle between him, Charles, and Westbrook. Westbrook later accused Star and YouTuber Shane Dawson of "manipulating" her into making exaggerated claims of predatory sexual conduct against Charles.

In addition to his scandals, Star is also a near-constant trending topic. He even finds himself at the center of fake controversy, like when a TikToker started a viral rumor that he was romantically involved with rapper Kanye West. There's no denying Star knows how to get attention, whether good - or, more likely - bad.

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,040 respondents December 24, 2020 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.