A timeline of how the internet turned against TikTok stars Charli D'Amelio and Trisha Paytas in one week

Kat TenbargeNov 21, 2020, 21:21 IST

TikTok users were captivated by the drama between the D'Amelio family, James Charles, and Trisha Paytas.Instagram/@dixiedamelio, @trishapaytas

Three of TikTok's biggest stars engaged in a massive feud that cost Charli D'Amelio over a million followers and ended with clips of Trisha Paytas saying the N-word resurfacing.
It all started with a video of the D'Amelio family eating dinner with James Charles that critics said made the D'Amelio sisters look "rude" and "entitled."
After people started mass unfollowing Charli, Charles defended her against "30+ year olds" like Trisha Paytas, who had been one of the loudest voices criticizing the D'Amelio sisters on TikTok.
Paytas and Charles then got into a back-and-forth where she accused him of being "predatory" toward D'Amelio and Charles brought up many of her past controversies.

A massive feud between popular TikTokers captured the internet's attention this week as accusations of teen stars being "entitled" and "ungrateful" turned into allegations of predatory behavior.

At the center of the feud is 16-year-old Charli D'Amelio, the most-followed person on TikTok. Before the drama, D'Amelio had more than 99 million TikTok followers. She lost over 1 million after people started calling her "rude" and "entitled" — but after her fans and fellow creators defended her and she apologized, D'Amelio started gaining followers back again.

D'Amelio's older sister Dixie, who is 19, was also criticized during the drama. Both the D'Amelio siblings were defended by 21-year-old beauty YouTuber James Charles, who became friends with the D'Amelio family early on in their TikTok fame. Charles has nearly 24 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 30 million TikTok followers.

32-year-old YouTuber Trisha Paytas, who has 3.8 million TikTok followers, was one of the loudest voices criticizing the D'Amelio siblings. But the tables turned on Paytas after Charles called out her own controversial history.

Here's how all the drama played out.

On November 16, the D'Amelio family YouTube channel posted a video with James Charles that would soon turn controversial.

After clips of the D'Amelio sisters' controversial behavior went viral, Charli started losing followers.

D'Amelio lost more than 1 million TikTok followers at the lowest point in the drama. YouTube/The D'Amelio Family, Twitter/@defnoodles

Two days after the YouTube video was posted, outrage over the D'Amelio sisters' behavior turned into action. Charli's followers started unfollowing en masse, and in a 24-hour period, she lost more than 750,000 followers.

Eventually, Charli lost more than 1 million followers altogether, dipping from 99.5 million to 98.4 million. But she soon rebounded and D'Amelio is now back up to 99.2 million at the time of publication.

"The fact that over 99 MILLION people took time out of their days to focus on her and follow her is annoying me at this point," one commenter said.

The fact that over 99 MILLION people took time out of their days to focus on her and follow her is annoying me at this point, one commenter said.

Trisha Paytas was one of the biggest voices on TikTok calling out the D'Amelio sisters for being "entitled."

Trisha Paytas is well-known for criticizing other creators. TikTok/@trishlikefish88

At the same time that Charli was losing followers, Paytas was rallying criticism on TikTok. She reacted to a compilation of clips from the YouTube vlog that showed the sisters acting "ungrateful."

Paytas also called out both Dixie and Charli for acting "unbecoming." She said Charli, as a minor, didn't deserve to get hate but said the two sisters needed constructive criticism that their parents and older friends like Charles weren't providing.

In an explanation video that wasn't well-received by their angry fans, Dixie explained that her team set her up to elicit a reaction because they knew she would throw up at just the smell of the snails.

Paytas respond to Dixie's explanation and said it wasn't a "sincere" apology. She continued on to say that the team made Dixie look "bratty" and restated her critique of the adults around the D'Amelio sisters.

At the same time that Charli was losing followers, Paytas was rallying criticism on TikTok. She reacted to a compilation of clips from the YouTube vlog that showed the sisters acting ungrateful.

Paytas also called out both Dixie and Charli for acting unbecoming. She said Charli, as a minor, didn't deserve to get hate but said the two sisters needed constructive criticism that their parents and older friends like Charles weren't providing.

Paytas respond to Dixie's explanation and said it wasn't a sincere apology. She continued on to say that the team made Dixie look bratty and restated her critique of the adults around the D'Amelio sisters.

In a tearful response, Charli asked Paytas to stop talking about her, while James Charles jumped in to defend her.

Charli D'Amelio and James Charles have been close friends over the past year. Twitter/@defnoodles, Instagram/@jamescharles

In her livestream about the video, Charli apologized and said the behavior was "a big misunderstanding" and "taken out of context." She said she wasn't treating her followers as a number, but rather that she had a "big surprise" planned for when she hit 100 million followers on TikTok.

Charli also addressed Paytas and asked her to stop talking about her. Charli said Paytas had been "rude" toward her on multiple occasions and had her "own problems" to worry about.

Paytas apologized for hurting Charli's feelings — although she later retracted her apology — but said that it was fair game for anyone to criticize "the most-followed person on social media."

At the same time, Charles chimed in on Twitter to defend D'Amelio.

He called out "30+ year olds dragging someone half their age," a call-out of Paytas and a reference back to Charles' own explosive 2019 drama with Paytas' close friend Shane Dawson and Paytas' former friend Jeffree Star. Dawson and Star, who are both in their 30s, both publicly criticized Charles at the time.

In her livestream about the video, Charli apologized and said the behavior was a big misunderstanding and taken out of context. She said she wasn't treating her followers as a number, but rather that she had a big surprise planned for when she hit 100 million followers on TikTok.

Charli also addressed Paytas and asked her to stop talking about her. Charli said Paytas had been rude toward her on multiple occasions and had her own problems to worry about.

Paytas apologized for hurting Charli's feelings — although she later retracted her apology — but said that it was fair game for anyone to criticize the most-followed person on social media.

At the same time, Charles chimed in on Twitter to defend D'Amelio.

He called out 30+ year olds dragging someone half their age, a call-out of Paytas and a reference back to Charles' own explosive 2019 drama with Paytas' close friend Shane Dawson and Paytas' former friend Jeffree Star. Dawson and Star, who are both in their 30s, both publicly criticized Charles at the time.

In response, Paytas pivoted and went after Charles, who clapped back in a TikTok.

Charles lashed out at Paytas and her "friends," who we can assume are Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star. TikTok/@trishlikefish88, @jamescharles

Paytas then directed her anger toward Charles, who she said was always "playing the victim" and was "creepy" and "predatory" toward Charli.

She also brought up Charles' 2019 scandal with Star and Dawson, saying that beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook made him the "victim then" when Westbrook infamously accused Charles of disloyalty over him endorsing a competing vitamin brand to hers.

Paytas said "Charli is the victim" of Charles, who she said was "predatory." In response, Charles made a TikTok denying that his friendship with Charli was inappropriate and instead listed off some of Paytas' past controversies, which include her saying the N-word.

Charles' TikTok seemed to successfully divert attention from Charli, who started gaining back TikTok followers shortly after.

Paytas then directed her anger toward Charles, who she said was always playing the victim and was creepy and predatory toward Charli.

She also brought up Charles' 2019 scandal with Star and Dawson, saying that beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook made him the victim then when Westbrook infamously accused Charles of disloyalty over him endorsing a competing vitamin brand to hers.

Paytas said Charli is the victim of Charles, who she said was predatory. In response, Charles made a TikTok denying that his friendship with Charli was inappropriate and instead listed off some of Paytas' past controversies, which include her saying the N-word.

Charles' TikTok seemed to successfully divert attention from Charli, who started gaining back TikTok followers shortly after.

As Paytas' bad behavior resurfaced, Dixie danced to audio of Paytas using the N-word.

Multiple Black creators criticized Dixie's video dancing to Paytas using the N-word. TikTok/@dixiedamelio

After Charles' call-out, TikTok creators started to resurface decade-old audio of Paytas singing and rapping along to the N-word in songs. Most notably, Dixie posted a TikTok dancing along to Paytas rapping the song "F--- Tha Police" by NWA.

But Dixie's response was even more controversial, and several Black creators accused her of trivializing and weaponizing racism for a petty internet feud.

"As a black person, this... makes her just as bad because she consciously picked that audio because it had the N word... so... yeah," wrote one Black YouTube creator.

Dixie ended up deleting the TikTok and apologizing.

But Dixie's response was even more controversial, and several Black creators accused her of trivializing and weaponizing racism for a petty internet feud.

As a black person, this... makes her just as bad because she consciously picked that audio because it had the N word... so... yeah, wrote one Black YouTube creator.

Dixie ended up deleting the TikTok and apologizing.

Other TikTokers weighed in on the feud, and Paytas criticized many of them for partying.

The number of TikToks that Paytas made about the situation became a meme in itself. TikTok/@trishlikefish88

After she started gaining followers back, Charli stopped posting about the drama and she and Charles moved on with other content. Paytas kept up the commentary, though. She put out dozens of tweets and over 100 TikToks about the situation, which is ongoing, as she continues to respond to other creators and people attacking her.

Creators like Alyssa McKay mocked the fact that many TikTok fans appeared to "switch positions" and go from supporting Paytas to supporting Charles within one day.

Another popular TikTok creator, Larray, tweeted "good morning to everyone except trisha paytas" on November 20, and she responded by calling him out for attending parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout everything, Paytas has maintained that she can't be canceled — and if her decade-plus career as a controversial influencer proves anything, it's that she's probably right.

Creators like Alyssa McKay mocked the fact that many TikTok fans appeared to switch positions and go from supporting Paytas to supporting Charles within one day.

Another popular TikTok creator, Larray, tweeted good morning to everyone except trisha paytas on November 20, and she responded by calling him out for attending parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.