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Swipe Up, Or: Trafficking Emotions
I don’t follow Jeffree Star on Instagram, nor am I a fan of him. But since I’ve done YouTube research for almost 15 years and I teach a YouTubers course, I like to keep up with the dominant characters of the YouTube ultraverse and the sometimes manufactured drama that seems to emanate from accounts like his. And while you may not know who Jeffree Star is, you should know that he is an extremely famous make-up artist on YouTube with 17.2 million subscribers, 2 billion video views, a cosmetics line called Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and a net worth of $75 million. He’s always lived his life online and in public. A few weeks ago he broke up with his boyfriend of five years and took some absence from social media.
As Jeffree Star is one of the most famous YouTubers, matching that of traditional celebrity status, fans took notice of his behavior. Finally, a video was posted on YouTube explaining what happened. Then, Star posted an emotional story to his Instagram feed. In the short clip, Jeffree appears upset, tears streaming down his make-up-less face. In a voice that sounded strained by crying, he said:
There’s no easy way to say this. I tried to make a video. I know a lot of people have questions. So… Swipe Up.
As he said “swipe up,” Jeffree made the swipe motion with his manicured fingernail. While this isn’t the first time he’s used…
