I don’t know about you, but my screen has been saturated with James Charles drama for the past few days. There’s just no escaping it. I’ve never had an interest in following the never-ending drama of YouTube influencers, but there’s something that’s been bothering me about all this James Charles business.
James Charles has always been problematic. It’s not a sudden shock to see all these YouTube take downs of him – in my opinion, he had this coming. He has been racist and transphobic in the past, and his victim complex isn’t particularly new info.
A History Of Shitty Things James Charles Did
Previously, he tweeted a racist comment on Africa, implying that you would catch Ebola from visiting there. This came soon after he became the first ever male CoverGirl, and he was only 17 years old.
I will no longer support your company as long as he’s on the campaign. This was stereotypical & degrading to Africa. @COVERGIRL @COVERGIRL pic.twitter.com/RpgMp1lqfg
— HTX MUA PARI$ HEELTON (@ImTheBombDotCom) February 16, 2017
At first he blocked anyone that was calling him out and threw a few tantrums, claiming people were putting words in his mouth when they were calling him racist.
He apologised, but most people didn’t buy it since the apology only came after CoverGirl got involved, and his career was threatened.
but when people tried to teach you, you threw a fit and blocked people lol. But nah you’re not getting off that easy
— yo🥴 (@heathadiaz) February 16, 2017
He ended up posting a longer apology after that, which I’m not even going to bother linking because it’s not worth reading. It pissed off people because he ended up referring to Africa as a “country”, which pretty much showed he knew nothing about the place and was just digging himself a deeper hole.
CoverGirl still kept him on their books, and most (clearly non-African) people totally forgot about it.
Not long after, he made a transphobic comment that also pissed people off.
In a collab video with another YouTuber, he talked about his sexuality and said he’s not “full gay” because he’s attracted to trans men. Except… trans men are also men. Obviously this caused backlash, as the trans community felt as though he was undermining their legitimacy.
On top of that, he also talked about influencers needing representation (??) as if they are some kind of oppressed minority.
View this post on Instagram
my first met gala 🥺 thank you so much @youtube for inviting me and @alexanderwangny for dressing me! 💕 being invited to such an important event like the ball is such an honor and a step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in the media and I am so excited to be a catalyst. video coming tomorrow!
Like, seriously. It’s laughable. WTF is influencer representation? I just can’t deal with this level of ridiculous.
And it’s only now, that he has been accused of predatory behaviour against straight men, that the world has started to actually give a shit. Although maybe the world is now giving too many shits – James Charles has pretty much lost everything he has since Tati Westbrooke uploaded her take down video titled “Bye Sister.” Yeah, I know. This is honestly the most dramatic thing I have ever witnessed.
So Why Am I Even Talking About This?
Obviously, predatory allegations are serious. It’s seriously fucked up if he’s been trying to force men to have sexual relations with him on the grounds of threatening them with his fame and status power.
Something that did cross my mind though, is why the victims of his shitty behaviour had to be straight white men before the world cancelled him? Granted, these are the most serious allegations to date, but the fact that a lot of his fans didn’t really care about any of his other problematic behaviour says a lot.
Also, something else that I can’t help but think about is the fact that people are getting mad at him for being immature when he’s like… 19? He gained world wide fame at 17. He joined this toxic cesspool of YouTube influencer beauty at a really young age, and I do think it’s worth acknowledging. It doesn’t take away from his shitty behaviour, but it’s worth a discussion on WTF is going on with teen influencers.
Cancel him for being racist. And for being transphobic. Cancel him for being a creepy predator that preyed on straight men. But can we please not cancel him for just being annoying or immature? Those things are expected. He didn’t really have the time to grow up outside of the toxic, drama-filled make up land of YouTube. We all know how messed up those cliques are.
James Charles deserves to pay for his shitty behaviour, but I feel like this downfall is a bit excessive. Or maybe, the YouTube beauty community is excessive. It’s a vicious, exclusive little circle (look up literally any YouTube beauty drama, it’s all wild), and it’s actually crazy that with the power of a single video, his entire life is now fucked.
I think James Charles is interesting because his fuck ups ruined his life, whereas heaps of others get away with predatory shit in all the film, music and fashion industries. I’m as much against him as the next person, but I can’t help but get homophobic vibes from people that have been itching to bring up disgusting views on gay men being predators – a nasty and awful stereotype that’s been harming gay men for ages. James Charles obviously doesn’t represent all gay men, and the fact that people are using his allegations to further their own homophobic agendas is gross.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, cancel him for his actions, behaviours, words – not because he’s young, annoying, or gay. Especially that last one.
