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- Insider surveyed 1,105 people to figure out how well 99 influencers are known and liked.
- The data reveals how the public views some of YouTube's biggest stars.
- Between April and August, Jeffree Star's recognizability dropped by over 6%, according to new data.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Jeffree Star, who was found to be the internet's most infamous beauty guru in a poll conducted in December 2o2o, has become less well-known and liked in the past few months since moving away from the LA influencer scene, according to Insider data.
In December, 22.5% of respondents to an Insider survey said they knew who Star was. By April 2021, this figure had risen to 28%. Yet, in August, after he relocated to rural Wyoming and bought a yak farm, only 21.6% of respondents said they were familiar with Star.
Star has been an established figure on the internet for more than a decade after originally finding fame on the social media platform MySpace. In 2014 he founded Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and began posting beauty content to his YouTube channel. He became hugely popular, with his brand growing exponentially and his channel becoming one of the biggest in the space, with 16.3 million followers currently.
Star has also been involved in a number of scandals. In June 2o2o, he, along with YouTuber Shane Dawson, was accused by beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook of trying to sabotage fellow influencer James Charles. Historic allegations of Star using racial slurs and also resurfaced. The widespread backlash against Star and Dawson became known as "Karmageddon", leading Star to post an apology video in July 2020.
In October, Insider reported that Star had been accused of violence and sexual assault. Two months later, documents were leaked suggesting someone who had accused Star of sexual assault was paid $45,000 by a Jeffree Star Cosmetics executive.
In December 2020, 19.6% of Insider's survey respondents who knew Star had a favorable opinion of him. By April, that figure was 16%. Now, in the most recent data set from August, only 11.3% of respondents who knew Star had a favorable opinion of him. Star is one of the most disliked internet personalities out of the 99 influencers respondents were asked about, with more than half (52.3%) saying they had an unfavorable opinion of the YouTuber.
Star put his $20 million LA mansion on the market and announced his permanent move to Casper, Wyoming, a city of 58,000, in June. Star's new neighbors appear to have a more favorable view of the YouTube star, reportedly welcoming him into the community thanks to generous charitable donations and community support.
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,105 respondents between August 16-17, 2021 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.