I felt like I couldn’t breathe, it felt like I was drowning.’ In 2018 Manny Gutierrez (aka Manny MUA) had the kind of life that anyone with a YouTube account could only dream of. Five million subscribers, his own cosmetics line and a contract as Maybelline’s first-ever male ambassador. In just four years he went from working behind the MAC counter to being mobbed by fans at meet-and-greet appearances. Until, one day, he hastily ‘liked’ a tweet that would seal his fate.
Thinking nothing of it, he carried on about his day. A few hours later, however, his entire career, reputation and sanity imploded.
His YouTube peers were quick to capitalise on his ruin, uploading videos analysing every aspect of his fall from grace. ‘RIP Manny MUA’s career’; ‘Manny MUA exposed’; ‘Is Manny MUA a social climber?’. His previously loyal fans voted with their fingers, and his subscriber count plummeted drastically. He didn’t know it yet, but Manny MUA had faced the most modern-day of public reckonings: he’d been ‘cancelled’.
How did the YouTube beauty community go from everyday makeup tutorials to this century’s version of the Salem witch trials? And what does it say about both us – the viewers – and them – the stars – that cancel culture exists in the first place?
The age of innocenceI’ve followed beauty YouTubers since 2009 and it wasn’t always like this.
Online tutorials started on the platform in 2006, with makeup artist Adrienne K Nelson’s ‘Look hot in 5 minutes or less’ video. With zero commentary, questionable royalty-free music and not a ring light in sight, it was a world away from the YouTube productions of today.
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