Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star will post their first YouTube video together since they were 'canceled' over old racist posts, among other scandals
- Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson were both considered "canceled" on YouTube in 2020.
- The duo, whose eyeshadow palette sold out in 2019, will return in a new video this Friday.
- Star said they'll explain why their makeup line is being sold at discount store Nordstrom Rack.
Beauty mogul Jeffree Star announced that his next video will feature an old friend, Shane Dawson, who hasn't appeared with him on YouTube since January 2020. This Friday, the two will address why their 2019 makeup products are being sold at discount store Nordstrom Rack, Star said in a Tuesday tweet.
Two years ago, Star and Dawson were the reigning YouTube duo. They reportedly sold out of the flagship eyeshadow palette from their first and only makeup collaboration, the Shane x Jeffree Conspiracy Collection by Jeffree Star Cosmetics, in minutes - eventually earning millions of dollars, according to an Insider analysis of the collaboration's sales - and each received hundreds of millions of views on YouTube in 2018 and 2019. Then, in June 2020, their fame unraveled as the internet re-examined racist posts and inappropriate jokes about children they both made online in the past.
In the past, Star, who has 16 million subscribers, has made fun of other beauty brands that are sold at discount stores like T.J. Maxx, but his Jeffree Star Cosmetics items have since been spotted at European T.K. Maxx stores (T.J. Maxx's European counterpart), according to social media posts.
In a Tuesday Instagram story, Star said that he and Dawson - who has 20 million subscribers but last uploaded on YouTube in June 2020 - will talk about "drama, questions" and "concerns" fans have about their makeup being sold by Nordstrom. In a tweet, Star said he would be "candid" in discussing how his makeup ended up at other stores for a lower price.
Pictures on social media showed a Star x Dawson lipstick that started at $18 being sold for $10.97 at Nordstrom Rack. The listing for the product appears to have been removed from the discount designer retailer's website.
In his Instagram story, Star also teased that he will explain why he deleted his last YouTube video, which was a collaboration with his long-time makeup artist and friend LipstickNick. Critics speculated that Star deleted the video because it received low views. On Monday, Star tweeted asking if he should reupload the video, implying that he deleted it because he had received "mean" criticism of it.
Star's fans reacted positively on social media to the new Dawson video announcement, but it drew in significantly less excitement than the pair received at the height of their popularity, when they would each create entire news cycles in the beauty YouTube world by collaborating.
As for Dawson, recent appearances on his fiancé Ryland Adams' podcast have drawn little fanfare. With his most recent interview receiving less than 300,000 views in six days, he is a far cry from his YouTube documentary era, when his videos regularly surpassed 20 million views.
According to data from Insider's 2021 influencer index, Star has fallen over 6% in recognition between April and August 2021 alone. But Dawson had the biggest drop in recognizability, losing 23% during the same period.
Both Star and Dawson have begun the process of moving out of LA. Star splits his time at his cosmetics offices in California and his new Wyoming ranch and yak farm. Dawson and Adams moved to a $2.2 million farm in Colorado where Adams said he wants to start a family.