Jeffree Star accused of sexual assault: Will his sub count drop?
Jeffree Star is no stranger to controversy, as the beauty YouTuber has been accused of a lot over the years. Yet no matter what he’s done, Jeffree Star’s sub count always remains high. But the beauty guru is now being accused of more than just basic YouTube drama.
Insider spoke with numerous sources about Jeffree Star’s messy past, and multiple people came forward with stories of sexual harassment and stories of violent behavior. At least five people also came forward with a story of Star tasing a homeless teen who rejected his advances. Later, said teen allegedly went to stay at Star’s apartment and was drugged and sexually assaulted by Star.
An allegedly violent and abusive past
All of the allegations are from Jeffree Star’s time as a MySpace celebrity back in the late 00s. In their initial investigation, Insider spoke with four people who said Star had a habit of groping men without their consent. Five people also claim they saw Star use a close-range taser gun or stun device as an intimidation tool.
The main accusation in Insider’s investigation is the story of Gage Arthur, an eighteen-year-old teen who claims Jeffree Star sexually assaulted him back in 2009. Five other people also told stories that matched Arthur’s.
According to Arthur’s story, Arthur was set to crash at Star’s apartment starting on November 11th, 2009 after spending some time couch-surfing and being homeless. The two went to the movies with two other friends of Star’s. Arthur alleges throughout the movie, Star was trying to make a move on him, but Arthur refused as he is straight.
In the parking lot of the movie theater, Arthur alleges Star tased him for rejecting his advances. Arthur still went back to Star’s apartment with him as previously agreed upon. While in Star’s apartment, Arthur alleges Star gave him numerous Ambien pills to intoxicate him, and then Star performed non-consensual oral sex on him.
Star denies all allegations
Through his lawyer, Jeffree Star has outright denied all allegations made in the Insider piece. Star’s lawyer claims Star “never tasered or drugged anyone for sex” and any instances of Star groping someone was Star and a friend “jokingly touching each other”.
Bribing people to stay quiet?
However, Insider also claims they have text message proof from some of their sources who said Star offered to pay people to change their stories. Arthur in particular changed his story after being contacted by Star’s lawyers in text messages sent to the Insider writer. Later on, another source who changed his story sent messages from Arthur who said if the source changed their story, Star would pay him $10,000.
Chris Avery Bennet, who claims Star sent her a nude photo, provided Insider with screenshots of messages from Arthur offering her cash for her silence. Bennet rejected the offer and even informed Insider Arthur was trying to pull out of the story.
Before she received Star’s offer though, Bennet had told Insider, “Jeffree has never hidden any of this. The only thing he’s ever done is shut people up. But what needs to happen is somebody needs to speak up and open that door for people who have more serious encounters. And nobody’s done that. And I’m not afraid to be that person.”
Will we finally see the fall of Jeffree Star?
It seems for every controversy that hits Jeffree Star, he comes back on top and his sub count stays high and mighty. Whether he’s accused of racism, antisemitism, or bullying, Star has yet to be “cancelled” for his actions.
Outside of the statements from his lawyer mentioned in the Insider piece, Star has yet to respond publicly to the accusations outlined in the article. Fans on Twitter are demanding Star respond to the allegations, as these are more serious than just using a racial slur.
The only reaction we’ve seen from Star so far is the author of the Insider piece Kat Tenbarge was blocked by Star on Twitter. Tenbarge claims she wasn’t blocked by Star until after the article was released on October 1st.
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We’ll keep you updated when Star makes a public statement about the allegations against him. In the meantime, you can catch up on the timeline of Star’s other allegations here.
