Jeffree Star Accuser Allegedly Paid to Walk Back Sexual and Physical Assault Claims
Daniel Santos In a report published this October, Insider detailed allegations of sexual and physical assault by beauty guru Jeffree Star, including a claim from a man named Gage Arthur, who accused the YouTube celeb of allegedly shocking him with a taser and performing nonconsensual oral sex on him in 2009, when 19-year-old Arthur was experiencing homelessness. However, Arthur later recanted his statements and reached out to another Insider source to offer $10,000, allegedly on behalf of Star, to walk back their comments to the outlet as well. Now, in a new report published Monday, Insider says it has obtained documentation demonstrating Gage Arthur allegedly received $45,000 in hush money from Scott C. Andrews, CFO of Jeffree Star Cosmetics, according to company paperwork filed in 2017.
According to Insider, sources corroborated documents published by StickyDrama.com, including a cashier’s check and a cashier’s check receipt that appears to show a $45,000 payment to Arthur, dated September 28, 2020, four days after he attempted to withdraw his statements. The outlet also published an image of an alleged settlement agreement, one which offered Arthur $25,000 for retracting his claims, and $20,000 for contacting two other sources to encourage them to withdraw their own allegations about Star, which they subsequently did.
In a previous statement addressing the original October report, a spokesperson for Star had denied the allegations to Vulture. “While Insider may believe that generating click-bait is more important than honest reporting, facts still matter,” they said in part. “This so-called exposé is nothing but a defamatory collection of long-discredited allegations, misleading hearsay from more than a decade ago and outright lies. Tellingly, all of the key individuals involved have refused to substantiate Insider’s bogus claims, while many, including Jeffree’s representatives, presented the reporter with a mountain of evidence proving that these allegations are false.”
