Morphe Announced It's Cutting Ties With Jeffree Star & His Brand Responded To The Decision

Following social media backlash and a parade of influencers speaking out, Morphe announced it's cutting ties with Jeffree Star. On Friday, July 10, the brand took to Twitter to publicly state the news. This decision comes following Star coming under fire recently for his past offensive behavior. Elite Daily reached out to Morphe for further comment on this decision but did not hear back in time for publication.

"Today we’ve made the decision to cease all commercial activity related to Jeffree Star and affiliated products," Morphe tweeted. "We expect this to conclude within the coming weeks. As we look to the future, we will continue to share updates on what lies ahead for the Morphe brand." It's unclear how soon, exactly, Morphe will cease stocking Jeffree Star Cosmetics on its website, though the Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Conspiracy Collection is no longer available on the brand's website. Elite Daily reached out to Morphe to verify whether or not the brand did, in fact, pull the collection from its site, but did not hear back in time for publication.

On July 10, Jeffree Star Cosmetics released a statement on Instagram in response to Morphe's decision to end its partnership with Star. "We are shocked and extremely saddened by the decision of our former retail partner Morphe Brushes on parting ways with our brand and Jeffree. Over the past five years, we've accomplished amazing things together and released iconic products," the brand wrote. "We are proud of everything we accomplished with them." Jeffree Star Cosmetics went on to say that it has an "incredible remainder of 2020 planned" and is planning to release new products later in the year.

On July 2, prior to Morphe's statement, prominent Beauty YouTuber Jackie Aina announced she would be cutting ties with Morphe, as well as Baddie B Lashes, in a Twitter statement. "As of this week, I will no longer be a Morphe Brushes affiliate. Code 'EDGES' has deactivated," Aina said in the tweet. "I refuse to align myself with a company that continues to retail antiblack racist beauty brands. I strongly encourage other influencers to do the same.” Elite Daily reached out to Morphe for comment on Aina's tweet and decision, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Other YouTubers, like Alissa Ashley, Nicol Concilio, and Chloe Morello, echoed Aina's sentiment, with Concilio tweeting, "Got rid of my code too."

The recent calls for Morphe to cut ties with Star stem from a whirlwind of social media backlash against Star and Dawson for their past racist and offensive acts. Star has been slammed several times in recent years for past instances in which he used racial slurs, and he, too, posted a lengthy video apology in 2017 when videos of those instances resurfaced. "I am so sorry for my words. I am so sorry you ever had to see me like that…that is not who I am and I apologize deep down to the core of my f*cking being," Star said in the video at the time. Recently, Star came under fire again when an old splash page of his resurfaced, showing the words "Lipstick Nazi."

"When I was 17, I stupidly referred to anyone who was obsessed with makeup as a 'lipstick nazi.' It was offensive, derogatory, and for shock value. It does not represent who I am today or what I stand for or have EVER stood for. It was a slang term when I was young used by TV shows like Seinfeld who had characters named 'The Soup Nazi,' named after a crazy cook. That's not an excuse but just giving context," Star said about the images in a Twitter statement on June 18. "The word itself is disgusting and I will always be deeply sorry to anyone who had to see that and will continue to be sorry for all the dumb vile sh*t I've said in my past."

Dawson was also recently slammed for past videos where he used blackface and said the n-word. He responded to the backlash in a 20-minute video titled "Taking Accountability," posted on June 26, in which he apologized, saying, "I'm sorry that I added to the normalization of blackface, or the normalization of saying the n-word."

Star himself (separate from his brand) has yet to publicly comment on Morphe's decision to end their partnership. Elite Daily reached out to Star for comment on the decision, but did not hear back in time for publication.