It's easy to forget, given that almost all evidence has been erased, but Jeffree Star was part of a tour de force friend group of beauty YouTubers that included Laura Lee, Manny Gutierrez, Nikita Dragun, and Gabriel Zamora.
They famously broke up late last year due to what many assumed was overwhelming drama surrounding Star's documented use of racial slurs and offensive "jokes" back in MySpace days. The remainder of the group continued to hang out sans Star very publicly.
Ironically, Twitter has dug up the rest of the group's old tweets, too — and things are not looking good.
Just after news broke that Star trademarked Manny MUA's catchphrase, fellow YouTuber Gabriel Zamora began a Twitter rant indirectly aimed at Star's old racist videos.
The tweets have since been deleted, but screenshots are strewn over Twitter and YouTube.
Immediately after that, Twitter users dug up and began sharing screenshots of a tweet from 2012 in which Zamora used the N-word.
Word of warning: The rest of this story includes some deeply offensive and downright racist statements. I won't share those screenshots here should they be triggering to anyone — but I will link them in case you do want to read them and need further proof they exist.
Another 2012 tweet by Laura Lee surfaced at the same time — one that insinuates heightened criminal behavior in Black people.
She was also documented using the N-word and making racist statements about people of Asian decent in 2012.
Nikita Dragun tweets from 2012 also surfaced, and they offend with multiple topics including but not limited to race, child abuse, easting disorders, and pedophilia.
No tweets of Gutierrez's have been discovered, but Twitter users are passing around an old Snapchat post in which he complains that his driver couldn't speak English.
Lee posted a lengthy statement to Twitter after the controversy arose. She apologized, said she'd changed, and vowed to begin working with social justice organizations.
"I wasn’t as educated as I should have been, and the past 6 years years I’m a different person [sic]," she wrote in a separate tweet. "And I plan on a continuation of growth."
But she also claimed some of the tweets are fake.
Zamora also issued an apology and is now "taking a break" from Twitter.
Dragun has yet to address this issue. As of this story's publish date, this is the last thing she tweeted.
There are no statements on her Instagram, either.
Where's Jeffree Star in all this? Throwing shade on Snapchat, of course.
"I love karma," he said. "I've been getting asked a LOT, ‘Are you ever gonna tell your side of the story?' I don't think I have to."
"I think everything will come out eventually on its own this year; there's still four months left. 2018 has been a fucking journey, girl. So… I'm bored."
Lesson learned: There is a probably a never-ending well of old racist statements from a lot of YouTubers.
So go support your unproblematic faves — the Jackie Ainas. The Nyma Tangs. The Alissa Ashleys.
