By: Jovillene Datu
February 2017
The 17-year-old aspiring makeup artist and CoverGirl’s first male ambassador, James Charles, received his first wave of backlash on Thursday February 17, 2017 when he tweeted, “I can’t believe we’re going to Africa today omg what if we get Ebola.” He refused to take responsibility for his statement, blocking any users who called him out. Eventually, CoverGirl terminated their contract with him, and James apologized right after.
October 2018
Popular singer Shawn mendes showed off his juggling skills during his Instagram live, James commented, “Can you juggle me like that?” The fans were not happy with the Youtuber’s sexual comment, and the incident belw up on twitter. Shawn direct-messaged Charles to clear things up and assure him that James’s comment made him laugh.
March 2018
During a Youtube video, James along with Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams, stated that Ariana Grande was the most rude celebrity they have ever met accompanied by negative interactions with her. After that contribersary, Ariana unfollowed him on twitter and fans were quick to defend the singer’s decision and unfollowed him as well.
April 2019 – 2020
While at a Music festival, James posted a sponsored video for ‘SugarBearHair’ vitamins. He later posted an apology video directly toward his now ex friend beauty Youtber Tati Westbrook for not choosing ‘SugarBearHair’ instead of Tati’s brand. She claimed that James never promoted her brand because he thought it would be inappropriate to advertise supplements to his teenage audience. The internet named this series of controversies called, “Darmageddon 2.0.’
May 2019
Continuing from the day of the festival, James received multiple allegations to sexually harssing those who don’t consider themselves to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. He centered his weekend around Instagram model Gage Gomex, who was 20 at the time. He claims that James tried to pressure him into doing sexual actions, even thought the influencer told him that he wasn’t attracted to men.
Another very public messy friendship breakup between makeup influencers Jeffery Star, Manny MUA, Gabriel Zamora, and Laura Lee. Tati Westbrook posted on video saying James was sexually manipulative and uses his fame against those who refused his sexual advances. Jeffery, elevated the drama by posting a cryptic tweet, “there’s a reason that Natan banned James from ever coming over to our home again.” He also said, “He is also a danger to society and Everything Tati said is 100% true.” After that incident, Charles posted an apology video titled, ‘No More Lies.’
May 12, 2021
Kelly Rocklein was 26 when she worked for James as an editor, producer, and creative director for 6 months. She filed a lawsuit report claiming that James failed to provide reasonable accommodation and failure to pay minimum wage for overtime. She declared that she worked 80 hours or more of work and James called her names like “Bitch,” and used the “N-word” in front of her. The investigation is still happening to this day and future information will be sent out to the public this year.
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