YouTube star James Charles was accused of “grooming” and having inappropriate conversations with minors in 2021. Now, the influencer has attempted a “comeback” with a now-viral interview with Cosmopolitan, in which he addressed the controversy while discussing his hopes for relaunching his career.
In the wide-ranging interview – titled “James Charles Would Like to Be Un-Canceled, Please” – the 24-year-old addressed the “grooming” allegations for the first time in nearly two years.
“I don’t want to sit here and f***ing mope and whine and cry, because nobody wants to hear it,” he began. “I had to do a lot of thinking. Like, ‘Okay, babe, this is your fault. No, you’re not a paedophile. No, you’re not a f***ing groomer. No, you’re not a predator. But you made a big mistake.’”
Two years ago, Charles admitted to sending “flirty” messages to underage boys in a 14-minute video – titled, “holding myself accountable” – which he shared with his 25 million YouTube subscribers.
At the time, he apologised for engaging in conversations with two 16-year-olds when he was 21. The makeup guru maintained that he did not know the true ages of the minors he was speaking to, and previously said that he believed the boy he was messaging on Snapchat was 18 years old.
“I’ve never been more disgusted in my life than when I found out that that kid was 16 years old,” Charles told Cosmopolitan. “I was mortified, absolutely mortified.”
He described the moments following his YouTube apology video, and when he was subsequently demonetised by the platform, as a “f***ing dark place”.
“I can’t even begin to explain to you how bad that week of my life was,” Charles said. “I was crying myself to sleep every single night. I was sitting there in bed staring at my phone. I wanted to kill myself. I wasn’t talking to anybody.”
Charles admitted that he’s never had trouble turning off his phone and going off the grid, but following the scandal, he said his “coping mechanisms weren’t coping”.
“It was the first time where I was like, ‘Oh, f***. I actually don’t know what to do here,’” Charles explained. “I eventually got to a point where I was like, ‘This is not healthy. This is not good. This is getting to a really fucking dark place.’”
At the time, multiple reports claimed that at least 15 boys and men had accused Charles of inappropriate behaviour. “The source of where the list came from was not doing any sort of research, no fact-checking,” Charles said of the number of allegations levied against him.
While the influencer acknowledged the “power imbalance” in messaging his fans online, and admitted that he “should have verified everyone’s ages,” Charles denied that he ever engaged in grooming – defined by anti-sexual violence organisation RAINN as “manipulative behaviours that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught”.
“I feel like that word is a very popular buzzword right now, especially in politics and stuff. But the actual meaning of it has been so misconstrued,” Charles said, noting that his initial conversation with an underage boy “lasted one hour”.
“I don’t know this person; I’ve never met this person,” he said. “Nothing happened between me and this actual person, so to use that word is so categorically incorrect.”
In the wake of the scandal, Charles lost multiple business ventures and an estimated loss of income in the millions. Now, he is hoping to relaunch his career with a new makeup line called Painted, which is set to launch in summer 2023.
“Everybody makes mistakes, everybody f***s up,” he told Cosmopolitan. “Don’t get me wrong – I definitely don’t think people should be able to do whatever they want and not be held responsible for it. It’s important that people be held accountable. But I think it’s important that we allow people to grow and to learn.”
“The idea that somebody f***s up and then their entire life and career and everything that they’ve ever worked for should be swept out from under their feet is just horrifying.”
As James Charles’ interview with Cosmopolitan made the rounds on social media, many former fans took the opportunity to call out the YouTube star for looking to be “un-cancelled” by the internet, after admitting to having inappropriate conversations with minors.
“How he is still relevant is beyond me,” one person tweeted.
“Not him doing an interview speaking out about this just to promote his new makeup line,” another said.
“He just needs to step away and not be on social media anymore,” a third person wrote.
James Charles isn’t the only YouTuber to face controversy. Earlier this month, internet personality Colleen Ballinger – who created the popular sketch character Miranda Sings – faced accusations of child grooming. She subsequently denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards her former fans in a musical video, in which she played the ukelele and sang about “toxic gossip”.
The Independent has contacted Cosmopolitan and a representative for Charles for comment.
