In the aftermath of the James Charles vs Tati Westbrook controversy, Felix ‘PewDiePie‘ Kjellberg has accused Westbrook of copyright claiming, or even striking, videos about the drama.
In May 2019, two of the biggest makeup channels on YouTube locked horns, as James Charles (15 million subscribers) and Tati Westbrook (10 million subscribers) ended their friendship in a war of words.
The issue began when Tati was angered by Charles promoting a rival vitamin brand to her own, going on to accuse him of attempting to manipulate straight men by using his money and fame.
The initial fallout saw Charles lose millions of subscribers almost overnight, but his response has since swung public opinion back in his favor, with Tati now facing the brunt of the backlash and losing subscribers.
Countless other creators covered the unfolding drama which captured the community’s attention, but it appears Tati is attempting to cover some of this up, filing copyright strikes on videos.
H3H3’s Ethan Klein had his own video claimed by Tati, which means ad revenue would be directed to her – which Klein highlighted given that she had made a point of not monetizing her own video.
Tati may not have monetized her video but she sure is monetizing mine:joyful: pic.twitter.com/vfNi7FcFH5
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) May 21, 2019
In response to Klein’s tweet, PewDiePie linked to another, who showed evidence that Tati had in fact striked the video, removing it from YouTube entirely.
Also handing out copyright strikes: https://t.co/HdMI1cDsUa
— ƿ૯ωძɿ૯ƿɿ૯ (@pewdiepie) May 22, 2019
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PewDiePie later tweeted to acknowledge that the strike on the video had been removed, and that it may have been made in error, rather than a deliberate attempt to suppress the content.
FYI She removed it and looks like it was made in error.
— ƿ૯ωძɿ૯ƿɿ૯ (@pewdiepie) May 22, 2019
The video, by YouTuber WillyMacShow, is simply titled ‘Tati is worse than James Charles’, and is a commentary on the situation, although it does use clips from Tati’s video in making its argument.
The video is now available once again, perhaps due to the outrage its removal stirred on social media.
PewDiePie himself has made a number of videos on the drama, expressing in his latest that he hopes it is now over, and that both Tati and James Charles resolve the situation privately.
Tati has since deleted her original ‘BYE SISTER’ video, and has lost over 300,000 subscribers following Charles’ response video.