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Damian Lillard had an encouraging thought about the Golden State Warriors immediately after his Game 7 win Sunday.
“They’re due,” the Portland Trail Blazers star said, indicating a series loss could be coming soon.
Lillard’s words came in a response to a ball boy discussing the upcoming round with him, per Royce Young of ESPN. The Trail Blazers were certainly confident at that moment, immediately after a 100-96 win over the Denver Nuggets to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Of course, beating the Warriors will be a whole different challenge.
Golden State has won the last two NBA titles and has won the West in each of the last four years. The consistent winning could make them “due” for a loss if they were an average team getting lucky, but they have been dominant throughout this stretch.
In only two series of the past three years has the team even faced an elimination game in the West—last year’s Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets and 2016’s against the Oklahoma City Thunder—and the squad has only lost 14 total playoff games in that stretch.
For perspective, the Blazers lost 10 straight playoff games coming into this year’s postseason.
This is part of the reason why Portland is a significant underdog going into the upcoming series:
B/R Betting @br_betting
Will the Warriors roll to their 5th straight finals?
https://t.co/7VbrAFYvhg
However, Lillard and CJ McCollum have each showed the ability to take over games this postseason and they have a chance to keep it going in the conference finals. With Kevin Durant less than 100 percent, perhaps Lillard will get his wish as he tries to reach the NBA finals.
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Sudan‘s former president Omar al-Bashir has been charged “with inciting and participating” in the killing of protesters during the mass protests that lead to the end of his decades-long rule.
The prosecutor general’s announcement on Monday came as protest organisers and military rulers resumed a new round of talks on handing over power to a civilian interim body.
“Omar al-Bashir and others have been charged for inciting and participating in the killing of demonstrators,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Earlier this month, the prosecutor ordered al-Bashir to be interrogated on charges of money laundering and financing of “terrorism”.
There has been no comment from al-Bashir since his removal and arrest on April 11. The former president is reportedly being held at the maximum security Kobar prison in the capital, Khartoum.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said a committee of doctors estimate at least 100 people were killed by security forces since protests began last December.
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Lack of leaders in Sudan’s protests delays peace talks (2:25) |
“A lot of them were shot as they were trying to run from the live ammunition fired by security forces,” she said.
The prosecutor’s office highlighted, in particular, the killing of Babiker Abdul Hameed, a 25-year-old doctor, who was killed on January 19, “when he was trying to give medical assistance to protesters”, said Morgan.
“He was shot dead in front of other witnesses.”
Huge crowds remain camped outside the military headquarters in central Khartoum, vowing to force the military council that replaced al-Bashir to cede power.
Lieutenant-General Shams al-Din Kabashi, spokesman for the military council, said the generals met with protest leaders on Monday and agreed on the structure of transitional bodies. Their make-up would be addressed in further talks a day later, he said.
“We discussed the structure of the transitional authority and agreed on it completely, and we also agreed on the system of governance in the transitional period,” he said.
Taha Osman, spokesman for the protest movement, known as Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF), confirmed the development to AFP news agency.
“At today’s meeting we agreed on the structure of the authorities and their powers,” said Osman.
“The authorities are as follows – the sovereign council, the cabinet and the legislative body. Tomorrow the talks will continue to discuss the period of transition and the composition of the authorities.”
 |
| Sudanese protesters burn tyres and barricade the road leading to al-Mek Nimir Bridge [Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/ Reuters] |
The DFCF said late on Sunday it hoped to secure commitments to a swift transfer of power in the three-day talks.
The military council and protesters are at loggerheads over the make-up of the interim body. The generals have proposed that the new council be military led, while protest leaders want a majority civilian body.
The protesters have vowed to continue demonstrations, centered on the sit-in outside the military headquarters, and called for a series of nationwide protests, including another march to the main sit-in, in the coming week.
Earlier on Monday, Sudanese police and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters in the Khartoum North neighbourhood.
The troops also removed barriers protesters had set up on a road leading to al-Mek Nimir Bridge, a main artery of Khartoum. There were no reports of casualties.
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AS OF 1 P.M. … DOW: Down 691 points, or 2.66%. … S&P 500: Down 77 points, or 2.68%.
THE BIG QUESTIONS FOR TRUMP: Does he view the tumble in the stock market as temporary? Does he believe the electorate will forgive him for either short-term or long-term economic pain if it means the prospect of getting back to even footing with China? The election is 18 months away, but experts are projecting long-term pain from an extended trade war with China.
— IF THE PRESIDENT FOLDS and cuts some deal, how does he do it — politically? And when — after how much pain — does he back off his hard-line stance? How much runway do Republicans give him, and can they wrest back some international trade authority from the administration?
TRADE WAR LATEST … “China Hits Back With Tariffs on $60 Billion in U.S. Goods,” by WSJ’s Chao Deng in Beijing: “China fired back at the U.S. Monday, raising tariffs on roughly $60 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for President Trump’s decision to escalate tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. financial markets fell sharply in early trading after China announced it will raise tariffs to as high as 25% on products it currently taxes at 5% to 10% starting June 1. …
“China said tariffs will increase to 10%, 20% or 25% for most of the 5,140 U.S. products on which it currently imposes levies of 5% or 10%. Goods that China will charge at 25% include animal products, frozen fruits and vegetables and seasonings. Goods it will charge at 20% include baking condiments, chemicals and vodka. Tariffs will stay at 5% for certain items, including vehicle parts, medical equipment and farm equipment such as tractors.
“For now, China is not extending to items that aren’t currently subject to levies, notably aircraft such as Boeing Co. jetliners and U.S. crude oil. China must import both oil and passenger aircraft to meet domestic demand.” WSJ
— THE PRESIDENT TWEETS ABOUT CHINA … at 6:49 a.m.: “I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China that China will be hurt very badly if you don’t make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries. Too expensive to buy in China. You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out!”
… at 7:02 a.m.: “The unexpectedly good first quarter 3.2% GDP was greatly helped by Tariffs from China. Some people just don’t get it!” (Response from Cliff Asness, hedge fund billionaire: @cliffordasness: “He is right, I don’t get it. My bad.”)
… at 11:55 a.m.: “There is no reason for the U.S. Consumer to pay the Tariffs, which take effect on China today. This has been proven recently when only 4 points were paid by the U.S., 21 points by China because China subsidizes product to such a large degree. Also, the Tariffs can be…..”
… “…completely avoided if you buy from a non-Tariffed Country, or you buy the product inside the USA (the best idea). That’s Zero Tariffs. Many Tariffed companies will be leaving China for Vietnam and other such countries in Asia. That’s why China wants to make a deal so badly!…”
… “..There will be nobody left in China to do business with. Very bad for China, very good for USA! But China has taken so advantage of the U.S. for so many years, that they are way ahead (Our Presidents did not do the job). Therefore, China should not retaliate-will only get worse!”
NOT JUST CHINA … INCOMING … BLOOMBERG’S MARIA TADEO: “The European Union is finalizing a list of American goods to target with retaliatory tariffs in the event that U.S. President Donald Trump, who is expected to make a decision by May 18, imposes levies on car imports. … The EU will hit 20 billion euros ($22.5 billion) of U.S. goods if Trump follows through on the auto threat. …
“A 25 percent U.S. levy on foreign cars would add 10,000 euros to the sticker price of European vehicles imported into the country, according to the European Commission.” Bloomberg
Good Monday afternoon.
SCOTUS WATCH — WAPO’S TONY ROMM and ROBERT BARNES: “Supreme Court rules against Apple, allowing lawsuit targeting App Store to proceed”: “The 5-4 decision allows device owners to proceed with a case that alleges Apple has acted as a monopoly by requiring iPhone and iPad users to download apps only from its portal while taking a cut of some sales made through the store.
“The ruling could have serious repercussions for one of Apple’s most lucrative lines of business, while opening the door for similar legal action targeting other tech giants in Silicon Valley. But the court’s opinion — led by conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who joined its liberal justices in the majority — did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit itself.” WaPo
CLICKER … WASHINGTONIAN: “Inside the Pampered and Personalized World of DC’s VIP Diners,” by Jessica Sidman
HEADS UP — “Sweden reopens rape case against WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, wants extradition,” by WaPo’s Karla Adam in London: “Speaking Monday at a news conference in Stockholm, Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, said there is ‘still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed rape.’ In her assessment, she said, ‘a new questioning of Assange is required.’ …
“The Swedish investigation has been reopened at the request of the alleged victim. … If both [the U.S. and Sweden] seek to extradite Assange, it will be up to British officials to decide which request, if any, to prioritize.” WaPo
ON THE WORLD STAGE — “China ‘has no interest’ in joining U.S.-Russia nuclear deal,” via the AP in Moscow
IMMIGRATION FILES — NYT’S ANNA FLAGG: “Is There a Connection Between Undocumented Immigrants and Crime? It’s a widely held perception, but a new analysis finds no evidence to support it.” NYT
WUNDERKIND WATCH — ELIANA JOHNSON: “Inside Jared Kushner’s two missions impossible”: “With a headlong plunge into immigration reform and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kushner is presenting his political inexperience as an asset, telling lawmakers he is free of preconceived notions that stymied previous attempts. His air of breezy self-assurance in the private meetings he is conducting to tease his plans at times astounds the battle-scarred veterans of past such efforts. Critics complain, too, that his briefings are often woefully short on detail.
“Kushner has been talking up his immigration plan with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, which detractors have derided as laughably simplistic. In the version he debuted to lawmakers on Tuesday, the slides showed circles placed next to each other representing different potential immigration reforms and flags denoting ‘peer nations’ that have adopted merit-based immigration systems … Privately, Kushner and his allies hope that he and the president will get credit for putting forward proposals that move beyond the president’s blustery rhetoric — even if they are never adopted — and unite the GOP behind a new set of policies.” POLITICO
TWITTER DIPLOMACY — “Palestinians say Trump envoy’s Twitter shows peace deal won’t be fair,” by NBC’s Josh Lederman: “An NBC News analysis of the 1,561 tweets [Jason] Greenblatt sent between its launch in March 2017 and the end of April 2019 found that Greenblatt tweeted 186 times about what he described as acts of violence or terrorism by Palestinians, or roughly 12 percent of his tweets. His tweets include 211 about Hamas and 62 that criticize Palestinian leaders by name.
“He has never criticized Israel or any of its leaders, though dozens of his tweets praise Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.” NBC
2019 WATCH — WSJ’S VALERIE BAUERLEIN: “Republicans are looking to avoid a runoff in Tuesday’s primary for North Carolina’s do-over Ninth Congressional District race, a possibility that seemed unlikely in March when 10 candidates filed for the empty seat. …
“Avoiding a four-month runoff would be a boon to the Republican candidate, who will face Democrat Dan McCready in the fall. Mr. McCready had $1.6 million in cash on hand as of April 24 … In a recent poll, State Sen. Dan Bishop was the top candidate, with 31% support, while Stony Rushing, a gun-range owner and Union County commissioner, had 17%.” WSJ
2020 … HUFFPOST’S KEVIN ROBILLARD in Helena, Mont.: “Meet The Only 2020 Democratic Presidential Prospect To Win A Trump State”: Steve “Bullock and his team know his entrance into the race will be greeted with a few groans. … But Bullock and his entourage also are confident his surprisingly progressive-for-Montana profile and record will stand out enough to rise above the din of nearly two dozen candidates speaking simultaneously to overwhelmed primary voters. …
“[T]he message the governor wants to bring from Montana to the rest of the country is about more than simply defeating the president. He wants to fix the political system ― making campaign donations more transparent and less influential and creating a less partisan atmosphere … Bullock believes attracting support from Trump voters in red states isn’t just necessary to win, it’s also necessary to govern. The overall goal is to project a philosophy that’s both liberal enough to satiate his own party’s left and practical enough to win over centrists.” HuffPost
— NOLAN MCCASKILL: “‘The epitome of privilege’: Booker supporters seethe over Buttigieg mania”: “The similarities between their credentials — and the disparity between how their campaigns have been covered on the campaign trail — are frustrating Booker allies who question whether the media is giving the New Jersey senator a fair shot. … Other Democrats see Buttigieg’s rise as a reflection of entrenched racial and gender biases — that the Buttigieg bump would be impossible if he wasn’t a white man.” POLITICO
— JULIÁN CASTRO is out with an education policy platform, including universal pre-K, a $150 billion investment in school infrastructure, no tuition at public and community colleges, student loan reforms, student discipline reforms and a federal tax credit for teacher pay. Texas Tribune … The plan
— NYT’S SHANE GOLDMACHER in Iowa City: “Iowa’s Likely Outcome for 2020 Contenders: A Field of Broken Dreams”: “The rules of the Iowa caucuses have historically been inhospitable to all but the top finishers. … But a new wrinkle in 2020 is that Iowa will now deliver two sets of results. In the past, the party tallied up only how many delegates each candidate won. That will still happen. But for the first time, the total number of caucusgoers for each candidate will be made public, too, providing a new way for campaigns to spin the outcome.” NYT
— AFTERNOON READ … “What Do Native Americans Want From a President?” by David Montgomery in WaPo Magazine: “As the field of presidential contenders seems to grow larger each week, Indian Country is wearily anticipating another round of genuflections to the “sovereignty of tribes” and the “special government-to-government relationship” between the United States and this land’s First Nations.
“If campaign history is any guide, those lofty principles will trip off candidates’ tongues. But how would candidates apply those ideals to make concrete improvements in people’s lives? After hundreds of years of cruelty, indifference and insufficient good intentions, what is left for a candidate to say that could allow Native Americans to suspend their disbelief?” WaPo Magazine
— BOOKMARK THIS … “2020 Presidential Election Calendar,” by NYT’s Sarah Almukhtar, Jonathan Martin and Matt Stevens
SPOTTED: Mike Tyson and his family on Sunday at DCA, flying to Los Angeles.
MEDIAWATCH — Allan James Vestal is joining POLITICO’s interactives team. He previously was a computational journalist on the data and interactives team at The Dallas Morning News. … John Sides will be a political science professor at Vanderbilt. He currently teaches at GW and is editor in chief of WaPo’s Monkey Cage blog.
TRANSITIONS — Sean Bartlett is now comms director at the Center for Global Development. He previously was comms director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic staff. … Madeleine Weast is now project director at Firehouse Strategies. She most recently was comms director for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
ENGAGED — Adam Morfeld, a Nebraska state senator and executive director and founder of Civic Nebraska, proposed to Rachel Ayalon, global initiatives officer at the University of Nebraska Lincoln campus. Two Instapics
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Picking up an Uber at the airport can be something of an ordeal. Sure, there are designated ride-share pick-up zones and garages where you can meet your driver, but it’s a different system at every airport, and you’re often stuck with a lengthy wait time as your driver gets through airport traffic.
Starting Monday, Uber is testing out a new airport pick-up method at Portland International Airport, known as PDX. It takes a cue from special event pick-ups at sports stadiums or concert halls. It’s called Uber PIN for now, and if it goes well, your next UberX ride at the airport could be practically instantaneous.
Here’s how it works. After landing at PDX, you order an UberX as usual (it’s only available for this type of ride for now) and walk to an Uber-only pickup zone. You get in a line with other riders who are also trying to take an Uber away from the airport. Once at the front, you get into the first available car. You grab your PIN from your app and share it with the driver, who plugs in the numbers. Voila, you’re matched! No more waiting for your driver to find you among the crowd on the arrivals curb.
On the driver’s end, they’ve been matched with a generic airport rider. They head to the pick-up line to pick someone up — not you in particular. Once you get into the car and give them your PIN, it’s like a normal Uber ride request.
This is what the passenger screen looks like.
Image: uber
Then the driver puts it in the driver app.
Image: uber
As Sondra Batbold, a product manager on Uber’s airport team, explained, airport rides are really similar to events. Passengers come in large batches, making for a high volume of ride requests in a constrained area. Post-concert riders and plane passengers are both really tired and just want to get home quickly.
With the PIN system, it’s “truly a zero-wait experience,” she said.
SEE ALSO: Uber’s driver reward program goes bigger – and global
PIN was developed three years ago to use at Uber events. Already it’s worked at 50 of them, including the Kentucky Derby and at NRG Stadium in Texas and Arena Corinthians in Brazil. The Bangalore International Airport in India has been using PIN matching since last year.
The Portland pilot is the first time a U.S. airport will use PIN. It will be tested for at least a month and a half, if not longer. Then, we hope, it will start at other airports. Wait for it.
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PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
The next version of Android Q is currently in development with regular beta releases appearing for early adopters. The latest beta release has revealed an interesting new feature in the form of car crash detection by your smartphone.
As XDA Developers reports, Android Q Beta 3 was launched during the Google I/O 2019 event last week. Since then, the code has been delved into to see what’s new, and one feature that’s being tested takes the form of an app called “Safety Hub.”
Further investigation reveals Google is attempting to get Android devices to detect when a car crash has occurred, it’s also set to be a Pixel-exclusive feature if it makes it out of beta. This is confirmed by the Manifest declaration for the app, which includes “PIXEL_EXPERIENCE” in the Android name field.
What’s unclear right now is how Google is getting a smartphone to specifically detect a car crash has occurred. What combination of sensor data could detect such a scenario with 100 percent accuracy? I’d guess Android Q could easily tell when you are traveling in a vehicle based on GPS data and speed. It could also easily detect an impact, or sudden stop, or unusual movement such as the phone being flipped. Bringing all of that together may be enough to expertly detect an accident.
The other question to ask is, what’s the point of Safety Hub? If Google can confidently detect a car accident, the app could be directed to contact the emergency services automatically. In turn, Safety Hub would react faster than anyone in the accident as well as those who come to their aid. In other words, if Google gets this right, it could save lives.
This article originally published at PCMag
here
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Despite the Los Angeles Lakers‘ struggles, LeBron James does not appear willing to force his way out via trade.
“Jalen Rose said the same thing myself and even Max Kellerman said. [Rose said] ‘He should ask for a trade,’” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Monday’s Get Up. “In other words, we don’t know. We don’t believe that’s what LeBron James will do. Matter of fact, I’m told it’s not what he will do.
“I’m certainly told…the Lakers will not trade him either, even though there’s been people in Hollywood, not basketball people, but people in Hollywood in Jeanie Buss’ ear telling her, ‘Get rid of him. Trade him. Just rebuild because ya’ll ain’t going anywhere anyway.’ But again, he doesn’t have a no-trade clause, so you could conceivably move him. That’s not something they’re going to do. It’s not something he’s thinking about doing.”
James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers last July, embarking on a journey that’s been arguably more frustrating than anything he’s done in his NBA career. The Lakers (37-45) missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season—James’ first missed postseason since 2004-05—while LeBron also had his most extended injury absence of his career after straining his groin on Christmas.
The Lakers also had an aborted attempt at an Anthony Davis trade, saw Magic Johnson abruptly resign as president of basketball operations and had both Ty Lue and Monty Williams turn down their head coaching offer (in part because of an organizational desire to have Jason Kidd on the staff). Frank Vogel ultimately agreed to coach the team with that stipulation.
Any rumors of James wanting a trade were always a little silly. LeBron himself went on Instagram and responded to rumors that he had lost trust in the Lakers organization last month, calling them “not true at all.”
The Lakers were not going to trade LeBron James because you do not trade LeBron James. It’s as simple as that. These things are not done. LeBron does not have an on-paper no-trade clause, but he has a “I’m LeBron James” no-trade clause. Any team willing to sacrifice the assets necessary to acquire James—a massive haul in terms of young players, draft picks, etc.—would want his assurance that he’s willing to stay there.
LeBron himself would not want to go to an organization that stripped itself bare of assets to acquire him. He’s in the business of winning championships, and the requisite trade package would take any team out of title contention. We saw last season that LeBron himself is not enough to carry a team single-handedly anymore. That would leave the Lakers with the option of trading LeBron James for such a paltry return that they’d be excoriated on social media.
There is no world in which LeBron asks for a trade or the Lakers grant such a request.
Los Angeles is an organization in disarray with a fanbase that’s starting to lose faith. Trading LeBron is not the way to engender faith, and the optics for James requesting a trade from a team that he chose to go to a year ago would be horrible.
They’re stuck together, for better or worse.
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Robert Downey Jr. knows just how to tug on fans’ heartstrings when it comes to social media posts.
The Avengers: Endgame star is back with another Instagram clip that’s no doubt going to bring a tear to many Tony Stark and Peter Parker fans’ eyes.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
Downey Jr. took to Instagram to share behind the scenes footage of Parker and Stark’s heartbreaking reunion near the end of Avengers: Endgame, shedding some light on how the touching moment came together.
“Stark and Parker reunited… #Spidey senses tell me a few of you were hoping for this moment…” Downey Jr. captioned his post.
The final hour of Endgame is an assault on the senses in several ways – sure, it’s action-packed and all, but it’s also rife with some of the most emotional content you’ve ever seen in a Marvel movie. One of the most exciting and undoubtedly tearjerking scenes of the entire movie is when everyone dusted by the nefarious Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War is brought back to life for a final brawl with the universe’s biggest bully.
During the battle, we get to see a particularly exciting reunion: that of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. But not long after seeing the two back together again, Stark fell following the the big battle with Thanos – and now he’s one of the heroes we won’t see again in the foreseeable future.
So of course this reunion is one that makes fans get more than a little weepy. And Downey Jr. knows exactly what he’s doing when he posts these tributes. We’re not happy about Stark being killed off, but at least we have his spirit living on in Downey Jr.’s social media posts – and we know this probably won’t be the last one, so we’ve got all our tissues at the ready.
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Beautube continues to be the messy hellscape that it is, but the feud that went down between two major YouTubers just goes to show that nobody is above drama. Still, James Charles has a history of problematic behavior — why did it take until now for the community to cancel him?
YouTube’s beauty community was shaken on Friday when Tati Westbrook dropped a 43-minute video exposing her longtime friend and mentee James Charles. Among other reprehensible behavior, Tati also denounced his habit of allegedly sexually harassing straight men.
The takedown followed weeks of rumors, screenshots, and snarky reaction videos from other vloggers, so it wasn’t new, but it was the catalyst that has other influencers distancing themselves from the teenage makeup guru.
If you’re unfamiliar with the wild world of beauty YouTube, here’s a rundown of all the people involved.
James Charles is a 19-year-old beauty maven who went viral in 2016 for not only wearing makeup in his senior photos, but also being extra enough to bring a ring light to emphasize his highlighter. Later that year, he became the first male spokesperson for CoverGirl. Since then, he’s amassed an immense social media following — at its peak, he had 15 million subscribers on YouTube.
Charles’ nearly overnight fame reached a climax usually reserved for traditional celebrities, not influencers, when he was invited to the Met Gala earlier in May. He raised eyebrows when he called the invitation “a step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in the media” in an Instagram post.
But after his rapid ascent to stardom, Charles is now crashing back down. He’s been cancelled.
SEE ALSO: Men’s makeup brands are discreet — and all over Instagram
Tati Westbrook is a 37-year-old makeup YouTuber who also owns Halo Beauty, a supplement company that sells gummy vitamins for strengthening hair and nails. Her direct competitor is Sugar Bear Hair, a similar company whose products have been endorsed by a variety of influencers, including the Kardashian-Jenner clan.
Tati has been “like a mother” to James, according to James himself. She took the budding star under her wing when his career was just kicking off — and he even did her wedding makeup.
Keeping up? Good, because this is where it gets messy.
On April 22, James posted an endorsement for Sugar Bear Hair on his Instagram story after the company supposedly helped him with a security issue during Coachella. Without naming names, Tati said she felt “lost” and “betrayed” on her Instagram story.
“When you do so much for people in your life and they not only don’t return the favor, but they just don’t even see you,” Tati said in her tearful video. “I feel really used.”
James publicly apologized in similarly teary Instagram story the next day, and told his followers that he “did not think about the competition.”
“She has been like a mother to me since my first days in this industry,” he said in his public apology, adding that he didn’t accept any money for the post and that he uses Tati’s vitamin brand daily. “And has given me more love, support, resources, and advice than I could ever ask for.”
Fellow makeup YouTuber Gabriel Zamora — who you might remember from the YouTube apology fiasco in summer 2018 known as Dramageddon — weighed in on the situation. In a video posted on May 4, he chided Tati for her immature reaction.
“All these videos are being made where James is being made out to be this horrible human being and I’m just confused as to what happened,” Gabriel said.
In response, Tati posted a video on Friday titled “BYE SISTER,” a play on James’ signature vlog intro, “Hi sisters!” The lengthy video dives into why Tati felt unappreciated by James, from his hesitation to promote her brand to his reluctance to collaborate with her. She publicly severed ties with him, concluding that it was “painful to lose someone you care about, that you thought would be in your life forever, but the chapter’s closed.”
Since dropping the video, Tati has been rapidly gaining followers as James loses them. Twitter users and other influencers paid attention.
Image: Twitter Screenshot/Jefree Star
As of Monday morning, James has lost more than 2.5 million subscribers in three days, according to SocialBlade. Tati, meanwhile, gained more than 2.9 million since posting the video. To put that into perspective, as vlogger Callum Markie noted, Logan Paul gained 80,000 subscribers after filming a victim of suicide in Japan.
But the backlash isn’t just over snubbing a friend — it’s over a much more concerning issue. Although the majority of the video was about her personal relationship with James, it also shed light on his toxic habit of allegedly sexually harassing straight men.
“Oh my god, you tried to trick a straight man into thinking he’s gay yet again,” Tati ranted in her video, recalling a phone conversation she recently had with James. “And somehow, you’re the victim.”
She continued:
“It’s really disgusting to manipulate someone’s sexuality, especially when they’re emerging into adulthood and don’t have everything quite figured out. You’re using your fame, power, money to play with people’s emotions … And you’re doing that to have them behave sexually in your favor even if they’re straight. And you know what, that’s not OK.”
Tati was alluding to just one of many instances where James toyed with straight men. The receipts channel Spill laid out several examples, including his questionable relationship with model Gage Gomez. In April, Gomez posted a video calling James out for continuing to pursue him despite repeatedly turning him down.
“[He] pushed his emotions onto me to guilt me into trying something that I didn’t want to do,” the model said.
James has also publicly hit on Shawn Mendes, leaving suggestive comments on the singer’s Instagram live videos and tweets.
He later apologized in a tweet, and said he was “sorry if he [Shawn] felt sexually harassed.”
After Tati’s video, others came forward. Someone who claimed to be a former classmate tweeted that James allegedly sexually assaulted her friend. Singer Zara Larsson also tweeted that James repeatedly hit on her boyfriend, despite knowing that he’s straight. And in a supercut of James’ vlogs, a Twitter user showed the numerous times the beauty guru admitted he enjoyed pursuing heterosexual men because “it’s easier than you think.”
It’s about time James Charles stopped getting a pass for his repeatedly toxic behavior. But why did it take a video from Tati for the internet to finally cancel him? Twitter user @Quantum_King_ questioned why Tati protected James for years, despite public knowledge that he harassed men both in person and on social media.
Did Tati Westbrook expose a predator or did she harbour a predator until she felt under appreciated by him?
— Brokeryn Martell
(@Quantum_King_) May 11, 2019
If James Charles would’ve promoted tati’s vitamins, do y’all think she still would’ve made that video exposing him for being trash? Let’s discuss
— femme fatale (@eliesaaab) May 12, 2019
And others pointed out how hypocritical it was for Jeffree Star, another member of the YouTube beauty community, to speak out against James despite his own problematic past. (Star has since deleted his tweet, but there is a screenshot included above.)
Is James Charles being canceled because of his actions, or because the internet loves drama? It’s been nearly a year since Dramageddon tore Beautube apart, exposing multiple YouTubers for their racist tweets.
Somehow, James’ own racist remarks weren’t pulled into the whirlwind of cancellation. When he made a transphobic comment earlier in 2019 about how he wasn’t “full gay” because he had been attracted to trans men, he received some backlash but got away relatively unscathed. Why is it Tati’s video that’s tanking his career?
Maybe it’s because the internet is willing to give a pass to its faves, until it’s time to grab some popcorn and watch a feud go down. It’s good that the internet is finally done with James — the face of the beauty community absolutely should not be a predator. But nobody paid attention or sought to hold him accountable until there was a friendship break up involved.
The influencers at the center of Dramageddon have more or less recovered from 2018’s Beautube culling. Gabriel Zamora continues to make videos. Nikita Dragun was just profiled in Forbes. Manny MUA is still releasing products from his makeup line, Lunar Beauty. Even Laura Lee, whose iconically terrible apology video fueled Twitter memes for weeks, seems fine according to Instagram.
Will James Charles’ cancellation last, or will the internet accept him into the fold again like it did with Jeffree Star? Despite his many controversies, Star is a multimillionaire thriving on top of a massive beauty empire.
“A lot of most of my career over the last two years has been about me making mistakes and trying to learn and grow from them,” James stated in his apology video posted Friday. “And I haven’t always done the best job of that. I can admit that, but I have always tried … I wish I could say this is the last time that I make a mistake, but it won’t be.”
And as his beauty vlogger predecessors have proven, he’s at least right about that. Will he stay canceled? Hopefully. Will more makeup-centered drama go down in the near future and take down more racist, transphobic predators? God, we hope so.
from Daily Trends Hunter http://bit.ly/2Vnr6Si
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