How did James Charles go from being the internet's top beauty influencer… to one of its most controversial?
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm not physically attracted to older guys, which sucks like I would date like the absolute youngest like
00:061819 that looks a little bit older or like
00:0824 that like has a young personality, okay
00:11I owe a massive apology to anybody that I've hurt or anybody that I made uncomfortable with my action
00:18You may know him from YouTube the many controversies. He's been involved in or his signature catchphrase. Hi sister
00:30Oh
00:32James Charles developed his passion for makeup as a teenager growing up in Bethlehem, New York
00:36He started posting beauty content on Instagram and YouTube in high school with the support of his parents
00:42I'm much quicker
00:43Once I parents like understood
00:44What I like wanted to do that I wanted to do as a career that I was just expressing myself
00:48I mean you're really talented in
00:512016 a tweet of his glammed-up senior portrait went viral catching the eye of covergirl a few months later
00:56He made covergirl history. I am so excited to announce that I am the first ever male covergirl
01:03Today is a great day for lash equality celebrate lash equality with new so lashing mascara
01:10But just months into his newfound fame. He came under fire for this tweet about an upcoming trip
01:20He later issued an apology in which he stated he was quote extremely sorry and mistakenly called Africa a country
01:27Charles managed to rebuild and went on to create a successful clothing line called sisters apparel
01:31Launch a partnership with the cosmetics brand morphe and collaborate with countless other content creators and celebrities
01:43By early 2019 James Charles had amassed over 10 million subscribers on YouTube and had become the platform's top beauty content creator
01:50He was even one of the first influencers invited to the Met Gala, but this era would soon be interrupted
01:56This is absolutely not a video
01:58I ever thought in a million years that I would be making in May 2019
02:02Tati Westbrook a fellow makeup artist and youtuber who was a friend and mentor to Charles
02:07Uploaded a 43 minute video titled by sister
02:10She accused Charles of disloyalty for promoting another vitamin brand besides her own and alleged that he had a tendency to sexually harass straight men
02:17You know, it's really disgusting
02:20to
02:21manipulate someone's
02:23Sexuality especially when they are still, you know emerging into adulthood and don't quite have everything figured out
02:30You are using your fame your power your money to play with people's emotions
02:34By sister turned the beauty community upside down and within 24 hours
02:39Charles lost 1 million subscribers a first on YouTube to make things worse fellow beauty youtuber
02:45Jeffree star chimed in with a tweet calling him quote a danger to society
02:50After
02:52Initially posting a poorly received apology video Charles came out with a more in-depth video about the situation
02:58Titled no more lies in which he shared his side of the story and addressed one of Westbrook's allegations that he sexually harassed a straight
03:04Man who had waited on them at a restaurant a few minutes into the conversation
03:08I asked about a sexuality and he told me straight up that he was bisexual. Oh my god
03:13You tried to trick a straight man into thinking he's gay
03:16There was no straight man being manipulated anywhere in the story like Tati mentioned
03:21Many reacted positively to his video and Charles started gaining back subscribers while Westbrook and stars started losing them
03:27James Charles career was now going in an upward trajectory in April 2020
03:31He became the host of a YouTube original show titled instant influencer
03:35Which later won show of the year at the Streamy Awards in June 2020 Westbrook posted another video this time
03:41Apologizing to Charles and claiming Jeffree star and youtuber Shane Dawson had manipulated her into filming the first James
03:47I am so sorry that I allowed myself to be poisoned and weaponized against you
03:53I'm sorry that I bought into any of their lies
03:56Things took a major turn for the worse in February
03:592021 when a 16 year old boy claimed James Charles had sent him nude photos via snapchat James Charles snapped me on snapchat
04:06He added me back because I had stopped him a while ago. Just like a fan to influence their conversation
04:11This is the notification that I got when he snapchatted me first started making the conversation very sexual and made me really uncomfortable
04:22He proceeded to send me explicit pictures of his body I was getting really uncomfortable so I told him my age
04:27I told him I'm 16. Meanwhile, he's 21
04:30He's a grown man and then he proceeds to say oh bad even get to see the yeah meaning my
04:36Body several more young people then came forward claiming. They also had inappropriate interactions with James Charles in
04:43Response to the allegations YouTube temporarily demonetized his channel
04:46He was dropped as the host of instant influencer and morphe ended its partnership with him
04:51Charles responded to the allegations in a since deleted video titled holding myself accountable in which he admitted to sending sexually explicit
04:58Messages to at least two minors but claimed they had both lied about their ages
05:02First and foremost, I need to say sorry
05:05I owe a massive apology to anybody that I've hurt or anybody that I made uncomfortable with my actions these
05:13Conversations should have never happened point-blank period. There's no excuse for it
05:17I trusted the information that was given to me rather than the information. I could have and should have gotten myself
05:23Later in the video Charles vowed to ask for IDs from men. He talks to moving forward
05:28After taking a break from social media for a few months Charles returned with another video titled an open conversation
05:33I really realized that at the end of the day as the adult and the person with the platform
05:37It was 1,000 percent my
05:39Responsibility to be doing my due diligence and checking into the people that I was speaking to and I failed to do that and that
05:44Really really sucks Charles once again came under fire in January 2023 when a tick tocker named David posted videos of Charles trying to
05:52Convince him to FaceTime. David also alleged that Charles sent him unsolicited nude photos despite him maintaining. He was straight
06:09Because you refuse to hang out with people or because you refuse to FaceTime
06:12You're not allowing people to actually get to know you as like a human being and that's a massive massive problem
06:19It was also confirmed James knew David was straight because he sent him this
06:30Using vanish mode on Instagram Charles also offered David a lucrative role as his boyfriend
06:39James Charles hasn't responded to this latest allegation and hasn't tweeted or posted anything on YouTube since December 31st, 2022
06:48Oh
06:53What is like yuck