What's the Snark on James Charles?

27:02Yeah. He talked about feeling like he was pressured, taken advantage of, and he was just, you know, insisted that he was straight and James was pressuring him up until Coachella of that year. James took to Twitter with a statement trying to clear his name and said Gomez never told him he was straight. And then James also claimed that Gomez was looking for an opportunity to spend time with influencers. So basically accusing him of being a clout chaser. yeah also in 2019 after the 2019 Met Gala that James Charles was actually invited to which is so crazy to think about he basically talked about social media influencers as if they're a marginalized group which is so crazy he posted in the caption of a photo that he posted on the Met Gala 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'm so excited to be a catalyst give me a break like shut up people thought it was just so like ignorantly phrased it's like you're not a marginalized group like shut up yeah he's acting like he's like a black indigenous person of color or something yeah exactly like shut up okay so now for the big one the bi sister heard around the world aka his feud with tati westbrook in 2019 do you remember where you were when this happened i remember being so fucking confused because youtube was a blind spot for me it still kind of is.

28:21And so I remember hearing this all over Instagram and being like, what is the deal? So I really didn't know much about it until I was actually reading the notes. So this was really when I feel like James became not, I wouldn't call him like a household name today, but he became a household name during this time. Like this transcended beauty YouTube, even if you didn't pay attention to any of these YouTubers, which I did not at the time, I still remember where I was and learning about this. Like it was such a big deal. So Tati Westbrook was another beauty YouTuber who would do tutorials and was in the same circle as him because of that.

29:03Their falling out became known as dramageddon in the YouTube beauty community. Like it was such a big deal. It was just everywhere at this time. So the bombshell claim happened on May 10th, 2019, when Tati Westbrook, who had been, you know, this close friend, again, she had been in the YouTuber community with James and kind of a mentor to him because she was older, posted a 43 minute YouTube video titled Bye Sister, where she publicly ended her friendship with James. She accused him of betraying her trust by promoting a competitor to her vitamin supplements called Sugar Bear Hair. Do you remember Sugar Bear Hair?

29:39Like they were everywhere. I always, it's synonymous with the bachelor contestant. So sorry, was Tati's company Sugar Bear Hair? No, Sugar Bear Hair was the competitor. Tati, I forget what her brand was called, but she had a brand that also had hair vitamins. Vitamins, yes. But he was promoting Sugar Bear Hair. But everyone was promoting Sugar Bear Hair at the time. I remember always thinking they looked so good. I was like, I just want to eat them as candy. Not for the hair thing. I just want to eat them as candy. Yeah, I remember any time a bachelor contestant came out of the bachelor, whatever, mansion, they'll be touting sugar bear hair that was everything at the time yes all the bachelor contestants that and what were the sunglasses quay quay sunglasses there was another brand i cannot diff diff eyewear diff eyewear yeah they were wait i'm gonna see is sugar bear hair still in business yes i was googling it yesterday literally yesterday they're still in business but definitely have less of a you know social media presence they used to because that there was a time when every single influencer was promoting them.

30:40Wait, I'm dying at diff eyewear. That's so funny. Yeah, diff eyewear. They were all so ugly also. Okay. So she also made claims during this video, again, that he was constantly trying to trick straight men into romantic or sexual relationships. She accused him of changing due to, you know, his newfound fame, power, and fat fake account and criticized him for kind of this over-sexualized public persona. This story dominated social media within hours. And his YouTube subscriber count dropped almost instantly. He lost more than 1 million subscribers in 24 hours. And this was a YouTube first. And within a few days, he went from about 16.6 million subscribers to 13.5.

31:25And even some fans filmed themselves literally burning his merchandise in protest. Celebrities like Zara Larson and Jeffree Star supported Tati's claims. Jeffree Star tweeted that James Charles was a danger to society, though he provided no evidence for this allegation. I'll get to the part where Tati walks back her claims. I think that Jeffree Star always felt as another kind of male in the beauty industry and doing the makeup tutorials and collaborating with brands like morphy i think that part of it was that jeffrey star saw james charles as his biggest competition and probably hundred percent and probably vice versa like they have always been extremely competitive with each other so i think jeffrey star was jumping on this cancellation of james um without knowing for sure like what what actually has he done and to be clear he did a lot of bad shit that has been confirmed but i think jeffrey star was very opportunistic by jumping into this Doubling down on that, yeah.

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34:46That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash snarkbait. You guys know I've been all about transforming my space in 2026. So far, that's included house renovations, hiring a home organizer, etc., etc. Now I'm on to tackling my closet because a huge part of having a calming zen space is letting go of all the stuff I haven't worn in years. That's why I'm so excited this episode is sponsored by Vinted. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app that makes it so easy to sell the pieces you're no longer wearing so you can make space for stuff that you actually will. Whether it's a workblazer you've worn to one meeting or a pair of boots you've never fully broken in, get rid of them and get paid for them.

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36:04You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride this summer, find more on Facebook. Amid the backlash, James eventually posted an apology video to Tati. And it was in an eight minute video. And he had no makeup on. He was doing like the YouTube apology thing where he He's like, oh my God, I've just been crying. My eyes are puffy. I'm too upset to put on makeup.

36:43Viewers actually found it very insincere and vague. And it became one of the most disliked videos on the platform before he eventually deleted it. This was like one of the biggest, actually probably the biggest beauty YouTube scandal to ever happened. And over the next week, James remained mostly silent publicly as, you know, all of the speculation gossip about him raged. And then finally on May 18th, 2019, he made a comeback with a different response video titled no more lies. This was a 41 minute video where James addressed each of Tati's claims in detail and provided receipts like screenshots and texts to counter her apparent lies.

37:25He denied ever using his fame to coerce anyone. He said, I have never and would never use my fame, money or power to manipulate or get any sexual actions from a guy. Please. That's literally his MO, but move on. Go on. This definitely is his MO and has proven to be his MO, but sure. So Tati mentioned, you know, this specific situation with a waiter where he was kind of hitting on a waiter like at her birthday dinner and, you know, making everyone uncomfortable, making the waiter uncomfortable. And he said, you know, this was consensual flirting. The man was bisexual and comfortable. He was not an unwilling straight guy.

38:01He also addressed Jeffree Star in the video, saying his tweets and messages to him were hurtful, defamatory, and extremely excessive and based on lies. He also said that he had tried to dispute, to handle the dispute privately. He showed that he had reached out to Tati and her husband to talk, but was ignored. He was also hurt that Tati would drag his mother into the feud. Tati had commented on James's parents' parenting, which he called one of the most hurtful parts of the video. And no more lies kind of worked. Public opinion began to shift a little bit. Some viewers apologized to James Charles for piling on him and started to question Tati.

38:37And all of these YouTubers seemingly came to an agreement when Westbrook and Star shared separate statements about how they no longer discussed their feud. By the end of May 2019, James had regained several million subscribers back to around 15 million. So again, that counter video worked for him for a bit. in June, 2020. So a year after she originally over a year after she originally posted that video, Tati posted a new video saying breaking my silence, going back on her previous claims. She said that Jeffrey star and Shane Dawson, Oh, Shane Dawson. Wow. Both of them are disgusting, but like Shane Dawson is so gross.

39:15We should probably do a Shane Dawson episode. Yeah. Had fed her lies about James and tried to manipulate her emotions, leading her to make the initial bi sister video. Her reversal vindicated James at the time. She made it seem that her accusations of him being a sexual predator pointed to a larger power struggle within the beauty YouTuber community. Like I said, it was like kind of a power struggle between him and Jeffree Star. They were the top dogs. And honestly, their names also sound kind of similar with like James and the Jeffree. So I find myself often getting confused being like, wait, which one's which again?

39:47I don't know. It's yeah, it kind of sucks. Totally. But overall, the whole scandal made him more famous than ever. And his name became recognized beyond the beauty world. Like we said, it really transcended everything. Also in 2020 in July, James Charles got flack for attending a huge party during the pandemic with other influencers. It was a birthday party for internet personality, Larry, look, Larry, why am I saying Larry, Larry Merritt? I don't know. guys there are so many of these little tweenie bopper youtubers it's hard to keep track but other guests included ton how do you say ton is last name i always pronounce it wrong tana mojo tana mojo nikita dragon charlie and dixie d 'amelio emma chamberlain etc all of the little it girls at the time they were not wearing masks or social distancing and they were called out online because remember this was the thick of the pandemic when we were all fucking locked in our homes and all these celebrities were running around and partying.

40:48He later apologized and said he wouldn't post clips from the party to help set a better example. It's like, well, I did the party. I'm not going to post clips. So stupid. Okay. So let's get into more of the sexting and grooming allegations. And before you dive into this, you know what I was thinking when I was reading this was Jerry from cheer and how similar all of those allegations were. And I mean, I mean, Jerry's locked up now, but he, this similarities between James Charles and Jerry were that they both be, I mean, James Charles is way more popular, but Jerry became this fixture. He was a celebrity in the cheer world and he would use that to his advantage and pokes these minors into engaging in sexual inappropriate conversations with him.

41:31It's so dark sided and, and, and sad. Yes, totally. It all really started to unravel for James. There was the bi sister drama. He was kind of vindicated because Tati walked back her claims and he gained a lot of those followers back that originally unfollowed him. But in February 2021, a 16-year-old TikTok user named Isaiah posted a video claiming that James had groomed him. Oh, no. He alleged that James sent him nude photos and pressured him into sexual exchanges, fully aware of the teen's age, which is key here. He said that James was fully aware that he was underage, that he was only 16. He said James asked him to send nude photos back on Snapchat.

42:13As proof, Isaiah showed blurred photos where James appeared to be naked. The allegations were serious and went viral on social media. James immediately responded on Twitter denying that he knew the boy was underage and said the teen had told him he was 18 at the time. And he posted, you know, this long explanation, kind of just denying that he knew that this kid was underage. Doth protest too much. It's like so specific. It's like, and I think to this day, we can't even find the actual proceeds of James Charles confirming Isaiah's age. Yeah. So yeah, his response was - Which is the crux of the whole thing.

42:54Exactly. Like that is the key part. He said, the accusation that I have groomed this person is completely false. Last week, I came across someone on my Instagram Explorer page, saw he followed me and added him on Snapchat. The next morning, I woke up to several snaps from this person being excited. I added him back saying he loved me and also lewd photos of himself in the shower. I asked how old he was right away, and he told me he was 18, so I started flirting back. In the excitement of meeting someone I thought could be potentially great, I didn't ask for a copy of his ID or passport. It's now clear based on the video he uploaded, he was taking photos of me with another device and had an ulterior motive from the beginning, etc.

43:30etc. After this tweet, the accuser Isaiah told Insider that he never told him he was 18. He said, in fact, in my TikTok bio, it says I'm 16. Yeah. I didn't record me saying it just like how he doesn't have any proof of me saying I'm 18. In March 2021, just weeks later, several other minors came forward with similar stories, sharing screenshots that appear to show James flirting or sharing sexually suggested messages with them while they were underage. These included claims that he used Snapchat to send explicit images. And in a since-deleted YouTube video, he addressed the allegations. In April 2021, it was called Holding Myself Accountable.

44:09In this video, he admitted that he had sent sexually charged conversations to two minors. He says one was 17 at the time and another was younger, both of whom he thought to be 18, according to him. So if you believe his story, sure. He describes his past behaviors indefensible, calling it reckless, and the result of loneliness and poor judgment. And he kind of like played the victim in this video. He very much was like, I don't get attention from guys. I'm lonely. I get really excited when someone shows interest in me, blah, blah, blah. He said, I fucked up. I need to take accountability for my actions and apologize to the people who are affected by them.

44:48He does insist that he never knowingly preyed on underage teens, but admits there was no excuse for not vetting ages and that he should have been more careful. During the 14-minute video, he apologized directly to the minors, to the guys involved in the situation. I want to say I'm sorry. I'm really sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable. It is completely unacceptable. The admission was surprising. So he admitted that he had been inappropriate with minors even though he allegedly did not know they were minors. Quote, unquote, did not know. But again, it's like, why aren't you being more careful?

45:23You should be vetting these people. I'm sorry, like for him to be like, I didn't ask for a passport. It's like, well, maybe you should because this keeps happening to you and it's not okay. He has never been legally charged. Yeah. He's never like legal. He's never been arrested for it. But this clearly keeps happening. You know what I keep thinking about? God, this is like so disturbing. Just bringing back Jerry. Jerry is literally locked up. Yeah. James Charles is far more notorious and well known than Jerry. They're both equally pieces of shit to be very clear. I'm not trying to say Jerry is some martyr or anything.

45:53why is James Charles not locked up he should be he absolutely should be Jerry's black James Charles is yeah but he has what he has white privilege like white wealthy privilege these are two and on the same coin like if if Jerry's want to be made an example as he should be James Charles should as well it's confounding that nothing actually has been legal no legal charges have been pressed against James Charles this is sickening and disgusting and unacceptable It's actually crazy. The fallout was swift in April 2021. Morphe announced it was cutting business ties with James, which is a big deal. Like that was his major, major collaborator.

46:31Yes. They issued a public statement just completely distancing themselves from him. On April 16th, James released his own statement saying he was going to take legal action against people who have spread misinformation. I know, like, give me a fucking break. Like around the same time, this is when YouTube demonetized James channel, like again, being furloughed. So he could not earn ad revenue from his content for a period of time. And again, this is a measure YouTube reserves for severe violations. The creator responsibility policy says if we see that a creator's on and or off platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem, we may take action to protect the community.

47:12He stopped posting new videos for about three months to let things cool down and to reflect, quote unquote, according to him. During this hiatus in May 2021, an unrelated issue cropped up. An ex-employee of James filed a lawsuit accusing him of wrongful termination in a hostile work environment. That case ultimately was settled privately. By mid-summer 2021, James slowly returned to social media. He uploaded a video called An Open Conversation discussing the fallout and his personal growth since the scandal. but his reputation was still pretty damaged. Former fans and collaborators distanced themselves from him and his subscriber count took a dip.

47:51Too bad. Sorry. Too bad. Don't feel bad. Nope. In the aftermath, James continued to maintain that while he had behaved inappropriately, he was not a predator and he had never intentionally pursued an underage person. Again, it's like intention doesn't matter when you do so. It's like - It's an insult to my intelligence, to be completely honest. The 16-year-old age was on his bio. You're telling me you go on his TikTok when he DMs you, the first thing you see, literally it's so dumb. And for it to happen multiple times. Multiple times. It's impact, not intent. Right. In a July 2023 interview with Cosmopolitan, which a lot of people took that as Cosmopolitan trying to make James happen, trying to make a James comeback happen, he broke his silence on the matter and claimed that some of the accusations were based on doctored evidence.

48:39So he's walking back after he had previously admitted to it being true. He said screenshots circulated by accusers were fake to frame him. But at the same time, one of the initial underage accusers told Cosmo that he did falsely tell Charles he was 18 years old at the time. That also is a factor in this, that one of them does appear to be a clout chaser. At least one of them. Fine. Like he was deceitful. okay yeah got it but still doesn't exonerate him for the other children that have come forward yeah and he said that he had privately apologized to Charles a few months ago for telling him I was 18 a few years ago and the tick tock I made that blew the situation up so yeah there was one clout chaser but plenty of other victims out there clearly James revealed during this interview that the scandal took a major toll on his mental health and relationships he shared that his own brother hadn't spoken to him since the allegations came out and that at one point he had suicidal thoughts because of the public hatred and fear of being labeled a pedophile forever.

49:44I mean, it's too late for that, James. I am deeply sorry, but it's way too late. It's because it's happened too many times. He has been accused of it too many times for it to be a coincidence or a one-off and not a pattern. If it was the one instance in which that guy was deceitful and told him he was 18, okay, maybe that's okay. But like there's too many for us to ignore at this point. So exactly. In January 2023, TikToker internet personality slash musician David Stutton accused James of sending him unwanted provocative photos. And David wasn't a straight man. There was nothing ambiguous about his sexuality.

50:23He said that they had a normal conversation until James started to request selfies and video calls, which David was uncomfortable with. Then James allegedly sent him a nude and the conversation stopped. Twitter user Tommy Gabriel also corroborated this by sharing screenshots of text between David and James. In the text, James laid out the requirements for being his boyfriend, including a predilection for escape rooms and horror movies. Scary. As well as armpit hair. Scary. The perks, Charles said, included living for free in its$10 million Los Angeles mansion and fun travel opportunities. James also says to David, So obviously being that you are straight, I would assume that you don't know a lot about the gay community.

51:05He didn't ask. Shut up. He did not ask. So he clearly has this pattern of hitting on straight men. Some fans argue that, well, straight men lead him on and some of them just engage with him to expose him for clout. Okay. I think that James does have like a preference for straight men. Clearly, like that is, he has so many times been accused of trying to not only prey on underage boys, but straight men in general. I'm sorry. It's like, you can't help what your sexual orientation is. You are not going to turn these straight men gay. And clearly they are uncomfortable with it. To be clear. Okay. I am as I think I'm very straight.

51:51Like I was with my girlfriends last, uh, last weekend and they were like, we all have a little bit of bisexuality in us. And like a lot of my friends, like Shannon and fluently for it has always told me that too. I personally do not feel that way. Just speaking for myself. To be clear, if a woman sent me an unwarranted photo of her vagina to my DMs unsolicited, I would be very disturbed and feel very violated. In fact, that goes for anyone, man included, okay? Oh, absolutely. Never do this. Vagina pics, like that is unsolicited. Like, no, that's never, never okay or appropriate. Very disturbing, very violating.

52:24Shame on James Charles for doing this. To people who are not wanting this. Unwilling participants. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride This summer find more on Facebook Should she say that about the kisses? Is that weird?

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53:47From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. So as for why he entertained the conversation in the first place, David Stutton said that on Instagram he's had interactions with other big creators before, you know, like all of these like influencers are DMing each other and, you know, connecting with each other. And he wasn't going to fully assume the worst. He said that he never claimed to be a victim of Charles. He said he only posted everything because I thought it was hilarious and that this creep should be mocked for the hilarious messages he sent. So it doesn't seem like he was really trying to like lead him on or be sexual or set him up in any way.

54:20He was like, yeah, I'm a fellow big creator. Like we connect and I wasn't gonna assume the worst about him. but then James showed his true colors like he always seems to do. So the most recent scandal that James has been involved in was the Evan Johnson scandal that just happened a few months ago in April 2025. Are you aware of this? Yes, I remember it hitting TikTok, my entire For You page, and being very confused. But now I'm fully locked in. I understand what happened. It sounds like not only is he preying again on a man that says he is straight, but also standing up for a man that is accused of domestic violence.

54:55Yes. And it's just perfect storm of just bad people. Insidious. Yes. Exactly. So earlier this year, Australian TikToker, Michaela Testa, who has 16 million TikTok followers, huge on TikTok, huge on YouTube, uploaded two videos. And it was a total of four hours of video content where she gives a lot of disturbing details about how her then boyfriend, Evan Johnson, physically abused her throughout their nine-month relationship. She shares photos of her bruises. It's very clear that this obviously happened. She shows proof. She shows her beaten and battered face. The videos went viral and obviously garnered a lot of sympathy online.

55:40Evan was ultimately charged with domestic assault on April 6th. He pleaded guilty and was arrested and taken into custody on May 7th. This man is a scary man, Evan Johnson. Oh, he's terrifying. Stay away. Yeah. On April 29th, one of Evan's former friends, Zach Sellers, was interviewed by creator Be Better. And this is where James is involved. In the video, Zach accuses James of having a very close, if not sexual relationship with Evan. He also said that James sided with Evan after the breakup and that James was coaching Evan during the public fallout. He also accused James of secretly housing or hiding Evan after the abuse allegations came out.

56:22At the same time, Kayla apparently, so he was apparently friends with both of them. Kayla had apparently confided in James about the abuse. Yeah, and I think it's interesting because I watched James's kind of like 10 minute video on what exactly went down. And from his perspective, God, he's a good convincer. The way he speaks, he's very convincing. Like I almost felt for a second like being put under his spell. But I think what James was trying to say was that he, Kayla and Evan were kind of this like triangle of a friendship. He said that him and Kayla were really not that close. He's like despite what Zach is saying on Be Better's podcast, like me and Kayla didn't have a type of relationship where I felt she was comfortable enough to come to me to tell me that Evan was domestically abusing her.

57:07Like I didn't know there was this side of their relationship. So I was kind of friends with her, also friends with Evan, closer with Evan. But when I found out that these allegations were legit and that Evan was, in fact, arrested for domestic violence, like that's where I drew the line. That's where I had I wanted nothing to do with Evan. But like, God, the way he was speaking on this YouTube video, he's very convincing. And it's scary because I'm like, this is I could never go onto a YouTube video and appear so convincing if what I was saying was a lie. It just was really scary, actually, to watch him talk for so long.

57:36Oh, totally. And to be clear, the girlfriend that he abused was Kayla Malik. Mikayla, sorry, I get them mixed up. Mikayla is a close friend who also corroborated the evidence that he abused her friend, Kayla. Kayla was the girlfriend of Evan who was abused. Yep. There's a lot of names being thrown around. I know. Kayla, Mikayla, it's a lot. There are all these people that I hadn't heard of previous to this, but they're all huge, huge on TikTok and YouTube. The public reaction was swift and severe. Many users began unfollowing en masse, According to Social Blade, James Charles lost over 700 ,000 TikTok followers in a matter of just a few days as the controversy picked up steam.

58:19And given his past scandals, people were just fed up. They were like, we've had enough. Like, we're not going to believe you this time because you always gaslight. You always lie. You're always so convincing. For a little bit, James stayed silent, which some thought was pretty sus, obviously. But on May 6, 2025, James posted a 10-minute response on TikTok denying the accusations. he looked into the camera and said I do not support Evan Johnson in any way shape or form he said that his relationship with Evan was a brief friendship that lasted only a couple of months he said that he was careful to say anything because the case was going to court that week and anything he posted could be used in the trial he insisted he cut off contact with Evan well before he ever learned about any of the violence that was going on he also denied that any sexual or romantic encounters happened between them.

59:08He said that when the abuse allegations against Evan came to light, he was as shocked as anyone and wanted to distance himself. He showed a photo of Kayla telling him about the abuse via text. But in those same text messages, James joke, can I have him now? Yeah, I tell them they broke up. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and then it goes back to, you know, the thing that we know about him that he loves to hit on straight men. He loves he loves straight men. Like he loves straight men. Oh my God. So he said he privately reached out to Kayla to express support and ensure that she understood he would never condone Evan's behavior publicly.

59:45He said he hoped Kayla would receive justice and said, I do not support violence against women. You know, he goes on to explain his side of the story, claiming that Johnson manipulated him into believing he was a good guy. It made him feel as though Johnson was being a friend for helping him out in time of need. He also said that he stayed quiet during the length of the court case because he was worried that anything he said would be used to affect the outcome of this trial. He also said in the video that he tried to contact Kayla, but she was unwilling to have a conversation with him. He also said that he planned to sue Zach Sellers and others who were spreading defamatory and slanderous lies about him for the sake of online clout.

1:00:19He always threatens to sue people for literally telling the truth. Yeah, it's like James Charles, it's about time that someone sued you or us. I mean, I know that they privately settled with that former employee of his, but God, like there needs to be many lawsuits against you, Mr. Charles. I know, like watch him threaten to sue us now. He condemned the situation as a social media circus of false information. And he then went silent on TikTok for a moment before returning. It was very brief, his social media hiatus from this, but there has been ongoing fallout because this saga is still relatively fresh, obviously.

1:00:56Like I said, it was just a few months ago. James's video did convince some. He's so good at convincing people. I'm telling you, I was convinced when I watched it last night. I'm like, damn, like I believe him. He's so convincing. It's so troubling. He did a good job at convincing a good amount of people. However, a lot of critics argued that even being loosely connected to such a situation reflects poorly on his judgment in choosing friends. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Over and over again. Over and over again. Gossman drama channels dissected his every word in this response video. and the incident kind of reinforced for many that James often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

1:01:33Like, do you have the worst luck ever? Yeah, I was going to say, like, what is the probability of all of these instances happening within a span of a couple of years and all of them not being true? The probability of that is highly unlikely. Exactly. Kayla has since clapped back at James's apology video with receipts. She shows DMs that in the photos that James sent to Evan while Kayla and Evan were dating, like he was hitting on Evan while she was dating him. Oh, I also shares. Oh, a hundred percent. She also shares her frustrations about how the scandal seems to be all about James, even though she is the victim in the situation.

1:02:07Yes, we've lost sight of the heart of the issue, which is domestic violence against a woman from her partner. And to make matters even worse, and this is the least surprising part, of course, that he was allegedly DMing Evan since Evan was 16 and James was 22. too. Enough. Enough. Like, yeah. Come on. Again, what are the odds of all? Like, are you like, everyone keeps lying about you. Everyone keeps tricking you into thinking they're 18, even though they're minors. No, you are preying on minors over and over and over again. People also point out how James never showed any messages between him and Evan, like saying, you know, I have to distance myself, this friendship is over.

1:02:53Like there is no proof that he cut off his friendship with Evan and he specifically denied having a physical relationship with him. But was there a digital relationship with him? Definitely plausible given his history or like an emotional affair type situation. Right. Spurred by the scandal, more people keep coming out with receipts of James messaging and being sexual with minors. So it's coming back. It's all coming out once again. Kayla's friend posted a video showing screenshots that were sent to him from a minor who was talking to James. The minor tells James he's 16 and they proceed to send pictures back and forth.

1:03:30So even this minor saying, I am 16. This is deeply disturbing. And it's it makes me think of people like I'm not saying he's as wealthy or affluent as Diddy or Harvey Weinstein, but people that are put into these positions of power that have the upper hand and influence and money and resources and access and teams of course they're fucking doing this to the low to the people that have absolutely nothing to fight against against them do you think 16 year old little baby whatever his name is is coming up against james charles who reportedly is worth 22 million dollars hell no exactly this is like this is groomer behavior yeah someone who is in a power to do this too straight out of the grooming playbook too because Because he has so much more power and influence and money over these young children.

1:04:15Like they're literally children. Children. They're still in high school. Yeah. It's so disturbing and disgusting. But as for like his public sentiment today, after all his scandals, a large part of the beauty community still keeps their distance from him rightfully so. He has not been invited to the Met Gala recently. He definitely doesn't have the same relevance or popularity that he once had. and that is his own doing. He has no one to blame but himself, but he still has, you know, a large legion of fans who have stayed with him despite these accusations. So his continued popularity is really interesting.

1:04:51I think that it's probably a lot of his followers today are probably younger, uninformed followers who aren't aware of all the scandals. Right. And also just stagnant accounts. Like he has these millions of subscribers of people that like, for all we know, they could have died. They're not people that are engaging with his content still. And people point to his engagement numbers as evidence that his fame has lulled. And although it seems like he's still popular, his videos still get around, you know, a million views. His reach used to be so much higher, around 10 to 40 million views a video. Wow.

1:05:27It's so high, but that's a significant drop. Totally. A lot of critics suspect that he buys a lot of his followers to maintain this following going to make his audience look steadier than it actually is. You know, they point to the typical tells like super generic, positive comments, identical phrases, et cetera. One thing I was watching was a compilation on TikTok of all YouTube makeup artists talking about him. And it was like, or even influencers in general, not even makeup adjacent people, but like Jeffree Star, obviously, Trisha Paytas, Bretman Rock. Whatever Bretman Rock says, I will follow.

1:06:01I feel like he's pretty grounded in reality. Yeah, they all shade him. He's just known to be a leech and a pariah in the in the culture. No one wants to be around him. It's a bad look for their PR. Absolutely. It's bad. Look, yeah, no one wants to be associated with them. And I do not blame them. And yeah, so this groomer label is something that follows him to this day as it should. And a lot of those former fans like think about and we were talking about when he showed up at that mall in the UK for his Morphe collaboration and thousands and thousands of people were there. And it was this whole chaotic thing.

1:06:34It was like the Beatles. Yes. That wouldn't happen today. I don't think that would happen. Yeah, like his just relevancy and popularity has plummeted because of all of these scandals. And I think also what's important to note is that there is a larger trend among Gen Z consumers that they need to believe that the person that they're supporting is a good person, as they should. They hold their influencers to a moral high ground. And that was not always the case. You know, like we were buying like Paris Hilton perfume at TJ Maxx back when it was known that Paris Hilton was like kind of a terrible person.

1:07:08We didn't care. Like a racist and a homophobe. Exactly. People forget about that. Gen Z holds their, we say a lot about Gen Z and sometimes it seems like we're trashing them. But one thing they do right is that they hold people accountable and they hold people to a moral high ground. Sometimes they expect their celebrities to be a little too perfect maybe. but in this case, I think they're spot on by swearing James Charles off. Why is it not clocking to you that I'm standing on business? I'm a dad. I'm a husband. So his net worth over the years, despite all of his scandals, his net worth today is around$22 million estimated.

1:07:45Must be nice. I would like that. I know. And this has been reinforced by, you know, multiple sources. It's pretty clear that he is worth a ton of money still, despite all the controversies from YouTube, from the collaborations that he still has, from, you know, his brand, whether it's a success or not, I don't perceive it as a really popular brand at all. But he does still have all of those millions of subscribers that are probably buying what he's selling still. Again, some of those younger followers that might not be aware of all of his scandals. so yeah he seems to be doing just fine honestly despite it all yeah he'll be fine for the rest of his life and frankly generations to come if he were to have children yeah generational wealth yeah like he's which is fucked up which is fucked up because he deserves to be in prison like no 100 like this there is no ambiguity here he deserves to be locked up he is a danger to young children.

1:08:43He is absolutely a predator, but that's about it. That's James Charles, his rise, his fall, where he is today. There are just so many controversies. And again, there are way too many to fully include in one episode, but these were the main ones, the big boys. But if there's anything that you think we may have missed, if you have followed James Charles for a while, I was never like that beauty YouTuber follow. Like I never watched those videos. So if there's anything interesting that we should call out in a future episode, let us know. We're all ears. But yeah, that is about it for our James Charles deep dive.

1:09:22Thank you guys for listening. And remember to follow us at snarkbait pod. I am at soph underscore Ross. Christy is at Christy Noel underscore underscore. We also have ad free episodes on our Patreon and bonus episodes every Wednesday. So go to patreon.com slash snarkweightpod if you're interested in any of that. Thank you to Jordan, our producer, Rachel, our new social manager who we adore. And we also adore Jenna, our past social manager who we wish only the best for. There's no tea. We promise. There's no tea. She's a busy, busy, busy girl with her corporate job. And we sent her off in style, as you guys know, with a previous episode and Olivia, our researcher.

1:10:05So thank you to our amazing team and thank you, Baby Snarks, for listening. Anything else, Christy? No, thanks so much. This was a good episode, albeit dark. And we'll see you guys on the next one. Bye. Bye.

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