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Jeffree Star Addresses Backlash Over ‘Blood Money’ Palette Launch, Ignores Actual Controversies

Jeffree Star's new YouTube video, dramatically titled ‘I’m Really Scared To Admit This’, addresses the one Star ‘controversy’ no one cares about.

Jeffree Star has addressed the backlash surrounding the launch of his Blood Money palette and collection, which fans said felt inauthentic. His new video, which he dramatically teased on Twitter yesterday, conveniently ignored every other far more serious controversy he's currently embroiled in; and seemed more like a PR stunt for the new product rather than a genuine response to Blood Money criticism. But hey, who's surprised?

For those interested in the Blood Money palette saga  we'll start at the top: Over the weekend, Star dropped a new clip for his latest make-up collection, the all-green Blood Money palette. The video featured a massive alligator, heaps of green props and, according to some Reddit and YouTube users, an extremely unenthusiastic Star.

"He's releasing so much at once it doesn't even feel special anymore. I understand he's still trying to make his way back into the beauty/YouTuber world but having people come out of so much money is not the way," one YouTube commenter wrote. "He doesn't even seem excited – he's just going through the motions," another added.

Over on Reddit, the feedback was similar. "It just seemed so impersonal," one Reddit user wrote, with another adding: "Yea something seemed off." 

The comments prompted Star to tweet a few days later: "New video tomorrow. There has been so much going on and a lot of you noticed in my last reveal how 'off' I was… Time to be really transparent. See you in the morning."

Naturally, given the very serious allegations of abuse Star has faced (and stayed completely silent on) in recent months, fans expected he may speak on this, perhaps share an apology? Instead, viewers got… well, not much. Below are the bits that are probably the most interesting for those following Jeffree Star-related developments.

"I think most of you know why we're here," Star began the video, titled "I'm Really Scared To Admit This", before explaining that he'd seen the "really intense" comments about the launch video and wanted to address them. 

He continued: "I can take a lot of heat. I know this summer when a lot of crazy stuff went down on social media… I woke up for a few months and every day there were people telling me to die and the craziest shit. I'm used to that. I've been through it all," Star said, likely referencing the many controversies.

"But this year, it's been rough. And I think sometimes we make it look easy on social media. We make things look glamorous when really, behind the scenes, we're crying half the week. Maybe we want to give up. Maybe we're going through some horrible stuff personally. We're all going through something. But I just want to share that I was having a horrific day when I filmed that reveal." 

He talked about filming the release video, shared some products, yada, yada, yada... and later admitted that he "missed love" after a year of him being single and that in the past he'd done "some dumb shit" he wasn't proud of.

That "dumb shit" he's referring to may include his role in the explosive Tati Westbrook/James Charles/Shane Dawson saga; the aforementioned alleged sexual assault claims against him; his reported past racism; and sadly, far more.

Written by Sangeeta Kocharekar, an American-born, Sydney-based writer at MTV. Photos from her pre-COVID-19 days as a travel writer are here.

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