re: why didn't Tati come out with any of this sooner? Did she only release this video because JC impacted her business? Is she really deserving of this praise, or is she complicit because she allowed JC to be a gross sexual predator for all this time?
Now, I'm not a huge Tati fan, but I wanted to share my thoughts on this.
Tati has shown a great amount of resolve throughout her YT career-- refusing brand collaborations, deals, etc. in an honest effort to remain unbiased. I mean... she's refused millions of dollars in the bank (and millions of subscribers). She also doesn't get involved, really, with much of the drama that quite literally every other beauty guru does. Feel free to disagree, but I do believe this is a reflection of her character in the sense that it demonstrates that she just isn't solely motivated by financial gain.
For her and her husband to take JC under her wing was an act of altruism, really. JC's subscriber count surpassed Tati by the millions despite having started YouTube so much later than her, and Tati offered him nothing but support and grounded advice. He became a sort of son to her, and I do believe there was genuine love there. And like most people do with their loved ones, Tati made excuses, ultimately privately condemning JC's behavior but not "exposing" him in the hopes that he would just grow up and realize that his behavior is wrong.
If it were me (or most of you, I'm sure), would I stick around? No. The sexuality stuff is just fucking gross. But Tati and James Westbrook invested so much time, energy, love, and money into JC... and frankly, while I disagree with them, I do understand why they clung on for so long. They really thought he would mature.
I think Tati should have called him out earlier (although, to her credit, she did repeatedly do so in private, which is important), but the breach of trust regarding the Sugar Bear Hair thing was the straw that broke the camel's back-- it was her final wakeup call to the unfortunate fact that JC values money and clout over a genuine relationship with arguably one of the kindest people in Beauty YT today. I think Tati is complicit and problematic, but I don't think she should be faulted too much for it: her judgement was clouded by love-fueled false hope.