Who is Jordan Liberty? Michael Costello allegedly sent d**k pics to MUA in chemo
'Project Runway' star Michael Costello, who slammed Chrissy Teigen for trying to blacklist him from the fashion industry, allegedly leaving him suicidal, is now being slammed by multiple people, including a makeup artist who claims that Costello sexually harassed him while he was going through chemotherapy.
On Tuesday, June 15, Liberty spoke via Instagram Stories about Costello, while speaking out against brands who are using LGBTQ+ talent to promote their products during Pride Month without proper compensation. "Oh, by the way, Michael Costello called out Chrissy Teigen this week for cyberbullying and has everybody pissed at her. Meanwhile, he sexually harassed me while I was going through chemotherapy. The gloves are off today,” Liberty said in his video. He spoke for about 10 minutes about the impact the experience had on him.
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Who is Jordan Liberty?
According to his bio on his website, "Jordan Liberty is an LA-based makeup artist, photographer, educator and creative director. In addition to producing beauty campaigns for top brands, his work in consulting, marketing, and product development have made him the secret weapon behind the success of many well-known products." He also teaches pro-level workshops, makeup classes and seminars, and developing educational platforms when not in the studio.
His work has been featured on 'The Today Show,' seen online on Popsugar, WWD, Vogue India, Insider, Oprah Magazine, Who What Wear, Refinery29, Yahoo!, and W Magazine, and printed on the pages of Glamour, On Makeup, LADYGUNN, and ELLE. He was awarded a coveted "Best of Beauty" award from Allure in 2015 and in 2017, he was named "Artist of the Year" by The Makeup Show. He has over 290,000 followers on Instagram and also runs his own YouTube channel which has garnered over 466,000 subscribers.
Allegations against Costello
Directly addressing his fans on his social media page, Liberty said that he had tried to reach out to Costello to discuss the allegations. “I really truly believe in doing the right thing and speaking up for myself. It’s something that I’ve gone through a lot of therapy to do. I’m certainly not a victim of any situation, but these situations need to be called out and I think today I was just so triggered, not only by the news of Michael Costello playing the victim card, but you know, these brands in my DM,” Liberty said.
“I’ve always been like really weird about sharing the situation with Michael. Remember when Me Too happened? I actually shared a story and I talked about an LA designer. That was who it was. And I think it’s taken me like three or four years to actually even feel comfortable talking about it. And I don’t think he even recognizes how bad the situation was. I actually tried to reach out to him maybe six months or a year ago. And I just said, I, you know, I don’t know if you remember the situation, but I would just like to get some clarity on, you know what led to that," he added.
Liberty said that it did not start out all that bad as they were able to exchange pleasantries in the beginning. “So Michael Costello slid into my DMs. We’ve actually met, I think at Coachella for like two seconds, but it was a whirlwind. And that’s the only time that I’ve ever actually been in his presence. And he slid into my DMS and he was like, ‘I love your work, you’re so talented.’"
He continued, "I was going through chemo at the time and I was, you guys, you know, I was very open about that. It was no secret. And so he sent a message back and I said, ‘thank you so much, I really appreciate that, blah, blah.’ And you know, we’re just changing pleasantries. He goes, ‘do you ever shoot fashion?’ And I was like, ‘Mhm. Oh yeah absolutely.’ I sent him over some of my work and he goes, ‘This is totally what I’m looking for with the new collection. I would love to hire you to shoot [whatever upcoming collection was happening in fall of 2017].'"
However, things got awkward once they set up a meeting. "So right after I accept the meeting, just randomly he sends me like a collage of d**k pics. Not like one, like a PicStitch of like a bunch of different angles and I’m like, is this guy for real? I’m no prude, but can we just normalize like, if people send you pictures like that without your consent, that should be considered a form of harassment or assault in and of itself because ain’t nobody trying to see that,” Liberty said.
He added that the situation made him feel uncomfortable and he did not know how to react. "I immediately felt like if I don’t respond favorably to this, it’s not going to go well. So again, I tried to just be a human being and I wrote back and I said, ‘Hey, listen, like, you know, I’m flattered, but you know, it’s not really where my mind is at, you know, right now I’m going through a lot being, you know, sick and um, you know, I also like to keep things professional,’” Liberty said.
Costello allegedly unsended the picture and then kept postponing the meeting. "So then I ended up calling him out and he said some really horrible things on the phone and the reason that I’m not going to share the things he said on the phone because they were absolutely horrific, is because when I was unhealthy, I have certainly run my mouth and said things that I don’t mean," Liberty said, adding that he was then blocked by Costello. He added that he now hoped that Costello would reach out with an apology.
Costello has also been accused by singer Leona Lewis of humiliating her and leaving her with “deep insecurities” after a perceived snub over a dress she was wearing at a charity fashion show in 2014.