The online beauty community is full of scandal, and this popular YouTuber has been at the
center of some of its most cringe-worthy controversies.
From offensive tweets, to feuds with fellow viral celebs, it seems like James Charles
can't help himself from getting shadier and shadier.
Offending an entire continent
Charles found controversy almost as soon as he found fame.
"Hi guys, James Charles here, the newest face of CoverGirl."
In 2017, just months after landing his groundbreaking CoverGirl contract, the star reportedly tweeted,
"I can't believe we're going to Africa today omg what if we get Ebola."
The backlash was immediate, with one follower deeming him a quote "uncultured racist."
Admitting he had a lot to learn, Charles addressed the criticism with a lengthy apology, writing,
"I am extremely sorry for my tweet and I feel like s--- for saying it.
[…] I am aware that the tweet was extremely offensive and degrading."
"I will not be talking about this anymore, it is done with, I learned so much and I'm
looking forward to continuing to learn and to educate myself further."
Despite his apology, he was still criticized for referring to the continent of Africa as
a country in his message.
One person tweeted,
"Can you Americans please stop acting like Africa is a country and specify the country
itself."
And another wrote,
"How do you say cancelled in all of the languages in Africa?"
Shady origin story
The road to Charles' fame might have been paved with one big lie.
When the makeup enthusiast was still just 17 years old, he was named CoverGirl's very
first male ambassador, an opportunity that largely came about because of an epic story
which one insider says is a lie.
Charles claimed that he had his high school yearbook photo retaken with a ring light so
that his makeup, quote, "would be poppin" - and the story went viral.
However, according to screenshots posted in 2017 by Charles' former friend, makeup artist
Thomas Halbert, the CoverBoy did not have his picture retaken, but instead merely edited
it with Photoshop, which is far less dramatic and may not have led to the career-making
gig with CoverGirl.
Halbert mentioned that Charles quote, "scammed social media into thinking [he] retook [his]
senior photo."
Charles didn't refute the statement and instead responded by writing, quote, "If you expose
me I'll kill you."
Yikes.
"If this were fixable I wouldn't have had this scandal in the first place"
Drama with Marlena Stell
There are times when Charles accidentally offends others, and then there are times when
he purposely sparks drama.
The latter happened in September 2018 when fellow YouTube personality Marlena Stell announced
that she was making a documentary with Netflix about the makeup scene.
Charles reacted to the news by tweeting that he was quote, "LIVID."
In follow up tweets, he claimed he was already working on an idea for a similar project and
hinted that "someone" stole his idea.
He also tagged Netflix to tell them that they should come to him for what he called "NON-BIAS"
work.
Stell responded to Charles, tweeting,
"I didn't approach them - they approached me and want to understand everything about
the beauty industry."
She also extended an olive branch to the young star, offering to get his perspective from
an influencer side, and suggesting they move their communication to private messages.
Then, in June 2019, Stell posted a video that addressed what happened in detail, going over
the personal and professional fallout that had been stirred up by Charles, revealing
that she was "devastated" and that Netflix execs weren't happy about the situation.
"I'm gonna be honest, I'm still pissed about that."
It seems like Charles is not only a danger to his own career, but to other people's careers
as well.
Flirty fail with Shawn Mendes
Flirting is fine, but stars might want to do it privately.
Take Charles' behavior towards Shawn Mendes for example.
"The human inside of us is like begging for this rawness"
According to Cosmo, Charles had already left suggestive comments on Mendes' social media
accounts in the past when the singer held a live stream chat on Instagram in late 2018.
Charles was among the many people watching when Mendes showed off his juggling skills,
to which Charles posted the suggestion, quote, "Can you juggle me like that?"
When Mendes quickly stopped the stream, some thought it was due to the comment and blamed
Charles for the abrupt ending.
Charles then apologized, tweeting,
"My comments on friend's & boy's content have always been light hearted & in a joking manner.
[I'm] a fan like anyone else, & would never want to make anyone uncomfortable.
I'm upset, embarrassed, and sorry if he felt […] harassed."
Charles followed that up a few hours later with a screenshot of a message from Mendes
which said,
"Hey James!
Sorry about all this, I've never said I don't like you or that you make me uncomfortable,
your comments actually make me laugh and I love them.”
Charles' fans seemed willing to put the situation to rest, but not before telling him to quote,
"CUT the comments back a little."
Shade with that swatch?
Fans were beyond excited when Charles announced his eyeshadow palette collaboration with Morphe
in 2018.
"My palette!
Oh my God you guys"
But some were quick to accuse Charles of faking the swatches he shared of each shade.
One Twitter user wrote,
"THE SWATCHES WERE FAKE, WHY WAS THE SWATCH THERE BEFORE U SWATCHED THE SHADOW?
MONEY HUNGRY N FAKE PERIOD."
Charles responded to a question about possibly presenting "pre-swatched" examples by tweeting,
"Yes, a few shades I layered twice because the first swatch wasn't good or because I
had to re-say my sentence and wasn't going to continue washing my arm, or that would
REALLY mess them up."
He then alerted his followers that he was doing live unedited swatches on his Instagram
stories for anyone who didn't buy his first attempt.
Fans were appeased.
That is, until his next scandal hit.
A super pricey Sisters Tour
In April 2019, Charles announced his first nationwide tour, aka the Sisters Tour.
At 24 different cities across the U.S., attendees would be given the chance to see the quote
"world-famous makeup artist and digital phenomenon" live during the "highly immersive and interactive
show" - and perhaps even meet him face to face in a meet and greet, complete with a
photo-op.
"I'm a little bit nervous, not gonna lie, but I'm so excited to just get to meet everybody
and talk and just hug and…"
But that seemingly VIP experience would happen only if attendees were willing to pony up.
Many fans were shocked to find out that the lowest ticket price would be $52.50.
From there, the options soared to a whopping $500.
Many felt like the fees were way too high, especially since Charles' fan base is primarily
made up of teenagers.
Charles hopped onto Twitter to apologize, writing,
"I am sorry that we disappointed many of you.
We have worked very hard to put this tour together and want it to be accessible for
everyone & an amazing experience no matter the ticket."
He later announced that he was completely canceling the tour due to another scandal.
He's an influencer rights activist?
When Charles snagged an invitation to one of the biggest industry events of the year,
it led to even more drama.
"We have been invited to the 2019 Met Gala"
Celebrating his presence at the 2019 Met Gala, Charles posted a photo on Instagram and noted
that it was a quote "step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in
the media," saying he was "excited to be a catalyst."
"There's not that much respect especially in traditional media, for YouTubers"
But some felt like he was comparing influencers to marginalized minorities.
One person tweeted,
"Sorry sister but I don't think 'influencer representation' is the best focus of your
bloody huge platform when there's some actual REAL SERIOUS ISSUES IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW
and you're in the privileged position to be a 'catalyst' in fixing those."
This time around, Charles didn't apologize, but instead focused on those who were supporting
him.
He said via Instagram stories,
"I wanted to say thank you for those who left positive comments on today's Met Gala video,
the reaction is definitely quite split.
But regardless, it was a such a huge honor […] and nothing is going to take away my
amazing time that I had."
"We knew not everybody was gonna be happy about it, but I think this is such an amazing
step in the right direction for influencer representation in media"
Tati Westbrook's not buying it
In May 2019, Charles lost millions of followers in the span of just a few days when fellow
YouTuber Tati Westbrook called him out for promoting Sugar Bear Hair vitamins - a direct
competitor to her Halo Beauty brand.
Westbrook, who had been Charles' friend and mentor for years, posted a now-deleted video
titled "Bye Sister," revealing,
"When you pair up with my number one competitor, it's embarrassing to me.
Is it gonna crush my business, no, but it's embarrassing."
According to Tati, Charles claimed that fans mobbed him at Coachella, and representatives
from Sugar Bear Hair came to his rescue.
But they only did so on the condition that he would post about their product on his Instagram
account, even presenting him with a contract then and there.
"You say that you're the realest, you can't be bought.
Well you just were."
Westbrook didn't believe a word of the story and during a tear-filled breakdown, she made
it clear that while business was involved, it was the personal betrayal that hurt the
most.
She even explained that Charles had once told her,
"Tati, I'm on your side, you've got me.
I will support you.
You've got my loyalty."
"You should have walked away.
You should have held onto your integrity.
You're a phony.
I know that now."
Seems like these two still have a lot to work out.
Manipulating straight men
Westbrook's epic takedown of James Charles wasn't quite over.
She also discussed Charles' rumored habit of inappropriately hitting on straight men,
in her video, offering,
"You are using your fame, your power, your money to play with people's emotions, and
you're doing that to have them behave sexually in your favor even if they're straight."
To her, the behavior was not ok.
"How dare you laugh about it and make meme after meme and retweet and this and that and
I love straight boys I love straight boys and make it a joke."
Charles responded to Westbrook's claims, saying,
"I have never… used my fame, money, or power to manipulate or get any sexual actions from
a guy."
Charles also claimed that Westbrook "twisted" an "inside joke" to come to her conclusions.
But joke or not, no one was laughing.
Zara Larsson calls Charles out
Westbrook wasn't the only one to call out Charles for flirting with straight men.
Singer Zara Larsson tweeted that James had messaged her boyfriend quote, "several times
knowing damn well he's straight."
Many people who had been following the Westbrook drama took this as another confirmation of
Charles' shady ways.
However, according to People, Larsson then deleted her tweet because there apparently
weren't several messages, there was just one DM.
That didn't smooth things over though, as James claimed that the damage had already
been done.
"She did later on say it was only one message but it was way too late because the media
had already ran with it, saying I was harassing straight men and wouldn't leave him alone."
James added that had he known that the man he messaged was Larsson's boyfriend, he wouldn't
have done it.
Jeffree Star jumps in
After Westbrook's video, fellow YouTuber Jeffree Star tweeted, then deleted:
"There is a reason that [my live-in boyfriend] Nathan banned James Charles from ever coming
over to our home again.
There is a reason why I haven't seen him since [Tati's] birthday in February.
He is a danger to society.
Everything Tati said is 100% true."
Later, Star basically retracted his inflammatory tweets in a video titled, "Never Doing This
Again."
In it, he apologized to Charles and said that the video would be his final commentary on
the matter, including this concession:
"There was a lot of rumors, and sadly, I let that get to me.
So, James I want to let you know that.
I should have never sent those messages."
He continued,
"I should have been a better friend."
"I should have handled it way differently."
So, it was over then, right?
Wrong.
Business gets personal
Despite the fact that Star tried to back out of the drama, Charles kept the flame burning
when fans discovered their orders from Sisters Apparel - Charles' clothing line with a production
company associated with Star - were potentially lost when the website unexpectedly went down.
While some thought that the problem might have stemmed from Star ditching Charles, it
was actually the other way around.
In his "No More Lies" video, Charles explained,
"Many of you guys noticed that the Sisters Apparel website was down."
He then confessed,
"Unfortunately, I had to sever ties with Killer Merch.
I just don't see a world that exists where I could ever be in business with a team ran
by someone like Jeffree Star."
Bridges burned.
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