Let's Check In On Jeffree Star

Every once in awhile the makeup mogul, YouTube villain, and casual racist Jeffree Star manages to exit public awareness, and the world knows momentary peace. That hasn’t been the case recently: Last week, Star made headlines for allegedly acquiring millions in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, created by the federal government to help small businesses keep employees on payroll during the covid-19 pandemic, for his merchandise and makeup companies—despite having just dropped $14 million on a hideous mansion. Later in the week, he again dominated the conversation for breaking up with basketball player Andre Marhold and accusing him of stealing designer luggage from his home. Naturally, the drama has only progressed from there.

According to The Daily Dot, accounts claiming to be Marhold’s finstas accused Star of paying Marhold, who is black, $70,000 to pose as his boyfriend to make Jeffree appear less racist. One now-deleted account, @_amarxiiii, also claimed that Star cheated on his ex-boyfriend Nathan Schwandt with his best friend, and alleged that Star has AIDS. Marhold has since said the account is fake and impersonating him, but it’s unclear whether or not Jeffree believes that: after Keemstar, a popular YouTube drama personality and host of the gossip channel DramaAlert began reporting on the breakup, Star allegedly texted Keem and said, “I think my life is one long roller coster haha. Him insinuating that and making up such a disgusting lie, I think it’s just for attention but just for the record I got checked after sleeping with him and I am STD and AIDS free. The fact that he would even say that is sad. I don’t know why he is saying this stuff but my lawyers are dealing with him and hopefully he leaves me alone.”

Of course, all of those accusations pale in comparison to the myriad of sexual assault allegations uncovered by a lengthy report published by Business Insider
on Friday. The publication spoke to many anonymous sources close to Star, four who admitted to seeing Star grope men without their consent, five who said they saw Star use “a close-range stun gun or other tasing device to hurt and intimidate people around him,” including five people who said they saw Star use the taser on an unhoused teen, Gage Arthur, after he refused Star’s advances. According to Insider, he stayed with Star that night, the YouTuber gave him Ambien until he was “intoxicated” and forcibly performed unwanted oral sex on him.

Arthur’s roommate Kris Whalen told Insider, “Jeffree had pulled out a taser and, to be blunt, said ‘You’re going to let me suck your dick or I’m going to tase you.’ [Gage] told me, he didn’t go into details, but said that out of fear he let it happen.”

Amor Hilton, a former MySpace personality who identifies as Gage’s best friend, told Insider that he said if she spoke to the publication “and supported him, he would ‘take care of me’ later if he received a monetary settlement from Mr. Star.” She said, “Gage is the exact same height and the exact same width as Jeffree is and there’s no way that he could be raped. Come on dude, grow the fuck up… All these accusations are coming cause it’s 2020. You know, my uncle Ron Jeremy, he’s going through the same shit right now.” (As of August 2020, infamous creep and porn star Ron Jeremy faces 28 counts of sexual violence in L.A. County, with 30 new allegations of forcible rape and groping against Jeremy brought to LAPD a month after his arrest.)

Of course, Star’s attorneys denied all allegations of abuse. After being approached by Insider, two on-the-record sources claimed Star offered them $10,000 to walk back their allegations. “One accuser and two claimed witnesses—all of whom had provided on-the-record accounts to Insider in which they said they saw or experienced Star engaging in violence—ultimately did change their stories,” the article states. Arthur also sent a message to another accuser, Chris Avery Bennet, writing, “The events I discussed with Business Insider were from many years ago. I am not sure I am remembering things correctly, and I may have misinterpreted things. I’ve decided to retract my communications to Business Insider and told them they don’t have authority to publish anything I discussed with them. To resolve all of this, Jeffree Star has agreed to pay you $10,000 if you choose to do the same.”