Jeffree Star has been infamous in the makeup world for a very long time — he first came on to the scene as a musician before blossoming into a makeup guru worth millions of dollars. He and his brand have changed the course of the beauty world. His initial MySpace fame launched him into the world as crude and hateful racist.
Yet, people still followed him like a litter of lost puppies because he was so eccentric.
He had neon pink hair, eyebrows to match, wore insane outfits, and stuck out like a sore thumb - which is exactly what he wanted.
His rise to fame was a rocky one, to say the least, with the glorification of self-harm, verbal attacks on others, a branding of "Lipstick N*zi," and other things that should have, and did, get taken off of the internet — to some extent.
On the internet, nothing really goes away forever, and if you look hard enough, you can still find some of the old, destructive paths he left in his wake.
Videos are online of him screaming racial slurs at others, using almost every swear word in the book, and even chasing someone with a taser.
Yet, he's considered an icon in the beauty world.
As of recently, one of his past websites, "Lipstick N*zi," has blown up on the internet, and I'm surprised that it took this long. Jeffree has taken his thoughts online and has apologized for it, saying that he never meant it in the way that it appeared.
Also brought to light was a graphic photo of him self-harming himself, which he apologized for, as well.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg on what Jeffree Star has built his legacy on.
He made news when he started dating Nathan Schwandt, a Caucasian man that appeared to be straight, but was said to be living in the closet. Rumors floated around that he dated Jeffree "gay-for-pay," meaning that he faked the relationship only to get paid by Jeffree himself.
All allegations were denied, and they dated for five years, breaking up this past January.
Jeffree Star made headlines very recently, yet again, when he made his relationship with an African American man, André Marhold, social media official. As expected due to Star's past, this caused major controversy, and Star is receiving major backlash from people.
As a makeup artist, I have watched Jeffree Star's videos in the past, not knowing who he really was years and years ago. I tried one of his products and wasn't very impressed with the quality or the price.
His makeup is expensive and loved by a lot, but at what cost? Is this really someone you want to support?
I'm not saying that people don't deserve second, third, or even fortieth chances, because some people really can change. However, Jeffree Star still speaks negatively of people who don't like him, and there doesn't really seem to be much effort in changing that.
At the end of the day, people will support who they want to, buy what they want to, and stand up for what they want to.
But after hearing details about Jeffree Star's terrible past, the idea of supporting a racist, angry, and destructive person just isn't worth some eye shadow or lip gloss, let alone my support.
