Yet another beauty YouTuber has gotten tangled in the mess that is James Charles' and Tati Westbrook's breakup. This time, however, they're coming to Charles' defense.
One of his closest friends, fellow influencer Nikita Dragun, just revealed some alleged texts that she believed would ultimately prove that Charles meant no ill will when he promoted Sugar Bear vitamins, a top competitor of Westbrook's Halo Beauty. But the texts seem to have made matters worse, and now Dragun is being accused of falsifying the messages.
On Monday, Nikita Dragun took to Twitter to defend her close friend James Charles.
In an effort to lessen the blow of the the criticism Charles is facing, Dragun posted what she said was proof that Charles only communicated with Sugar Bear Hair for the purpose of Coachella tickets and security.
"Heard a situation needed some clarification," she began. "My friend was in an emergency and texted me in the moment… unfortunately since Dragun Beauty used all of our marketing budget on the fantasy, i connected him with sugar bear. nothing shady."
Almost instantly, Twitter began calling out some major discrepancies in the screenshots.
The first of which was the rapid time frame that the exchange between all included parties took place. The alleged transaction occurred in less than five minutes, which led some to believe the conversation was planned and scripted.
"How did this all happen within 3 mins. 7:19 James asks for sbh security. 7:20 Nikita asks her sbh person. 7:21 sbh already says yes," someone asked.
And though the vitamin scandal is only half of the public's issue with Charles, people continued to call Dragun out.
"Girl nobody cares about the vitamins anymore also this doesn’t add up because james did the sugar bear hair ad during week one of coachella and april 20th was during weekend two and that’s when he just had regular vip," noted yet another person critical of the validity of the text messages.
Some think the texts were planned.
While some think the texts have been fabricated in the past few days, others think that the texts were made the day of Coachella, when Charles tried to cover his tracks as an excuse for Westbrook.
"Yeh I saw his snap day 1 before he went to Coachella and he had the artist wristband Do you think they made these texts to spin the narrative that James was telling the truth.weird he had that wristband and then he's there asking sbh for another one?? not buying that," another user wrote.
The texts were dated a week after the alleged Sugar Bear interaction, after all.
"Just saw the RichLux videos and he posted the snapchats when he promoted sugarbear, James said & they helped me out on week one. but the dates on these messages are like one/two weeks after the fact so this just seems fabricated, nice try though," someone wrote of RichLux's post.
And many think that the text messages actually make things worse.
While it's no secret that influencers don't actually use most of the products they promote, some feel that Charles' decision to advertise the vitamins was exceptionally reckless to his fans.
"This tweet actually makes things worse. It shows that he clearly doesn't care about his audience and promoted something he never tried before (and hated the brand actually) just so that he can have a good time at Coachella," another critic pointed out.
Dragun snapped back.
She said that the texts weren't fake at all, and that the only thing she fabricates is that itty-bitty waist.
"U really think i have the time to fake texts?" she asked. "The only thing i edit is my waist on facetune sis. they have the screen recording of the messages."
But the backlash continued.
For many, the messages still confirmed that Charles is a bad friend to Westbrook.
"Either way he knew better to not show up without security and he should of just left instead of f****** over tati. He needs to have some respect for tati and it just shows that he only cares about himself and having a good time. But yeah we all do think those messages are fake," someone wrote.
Regardless, three weeks is undoubtedly ample time to fabricate a text conversation.
"You waited near three weeks tho! Thats enough time to add in fake messages with that text. Also why ask to give his number to them when you gave their number to him. Plus he met them weekend one so he wouldd have already had their number just in case," said yet another who believes that the messages have been tampered with.
The text messages ultimately seem to have done more harm than anything.
"We love to see a queen winning," one Westbrook fan shared. "Congrats on 10 million Tati, James Charles you still suck and nice try with Nikita dragun, gtfo trying to make some fake a** receipts."
That's right, Westbrook has officially hit 10 million subscribers, while Charles' subscriber count continues to dwindle by the millions. This drama doesn't seem like it's going to be over anytime soon.
