The Cancellations of James Charles: The rise and fall of beauty YouTube's biggest star

Anthony Del Col,Josh Adams
Updated
The Cancellations of James Charles: The rise and fall of beauty YouTube's biggest star

  • James Charles rose from obscurity to be one of the most successful stars of beauty YouTube.

  • He had a cosmetics line, a legion of young fans, and millions of dollars. Then came "Dramageddon."

  • Having survived scandal and controversy, a sexting scandal saw it come crashing down.

James Charles is at the Met Gala. An interviewer asks, "This is new, new, new for you. It’s your first Met, too?" He says, "It is! I feel so good. This is just like a lot of things that are out of my comfort zone that’s like exactly what camp is," he says. Later, in a video, Tati Westbrook says "There's so much going on with James Charles right now that I do not support — I do not agree with. Fame, power and a fat bank account will change almost anyone, and if you don’t have people who will tell you to your face you’re doing the wrong things you won’t change. He’s nineteen, and I’m afraid of him.
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James Charles Dickinson was a normal, awkward teenager growing up. He came out as gay to his parents at age twelve. They were accepting, and also encouraging of his dream of becoming a makeup artist. One day a friend needed her makeup done before a school dance. Charles figured he would give it a shot. It actually turned out awesome He started sharing his success with Instagram by running a ‘Looks Inspired By…’ page. A number of fans asked him to make full-length videos so they could get better instructions. He took their advice and began recording a number of tutorials. His popularity soon went mainstream, and in October 2016 he became the first-ever male CoverGirl.
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James quickly became friends with a number of beauty YouTubers, including Tati Westbrook. Westbrook was a legend in the YouTube beauty community. She took on the dual role of being Charles’s mentor and parental figure.” James also became friends with Jeffree Star, one of the YouTube beauty community’s most controversial names. Star was a musician and one-time MySpace celeb that reinvented himself in the YouTube makeup tutorial space.” Soon, James Charles launched his first-ever makeup collection, a collaboration with Morphe. It’s aptly the Sister Collection. He became a sensation
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Charles' following began to explode, and he got increasing amounts of online press
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Tati Westbrook and Jeffree Starr, who worked with Charles, began to chafe at Charles' success. At Westbrook's birthday dinner, she said that Star accused Charles of being out of control, and flirted with a waiter he knew was straight. Westbrook said that Starr showed her an incriminating video of James Charles. In a video, Westbrook said, "It’s really disgusting to manipulate someone’s sexuality, especially when they’re emerging into adulthood. You’re using your fame, power, 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." In a tweet, Star called him a predator.
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Charles was in free fall, just days after he appeared at the Met Gala. Days later, Charles recorded a video. He said, " I am a 19-year-old virgin. I talk about boys quite a lot on my social media networks. Clearly it’s not acceptable anymore. I have never and would never and will never use my fame, money or power to manipulate or get any sexual actions from a guy. Everything that I was doing was always consensual between both me and the boy and I have receipts to back it up. The last few weeks of my life have been the most painful that I have ever had to deal with." The blowback now shifted to Westbrook.
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The video was viewed 34 million times in just three days. The reactions to the video were overwhelmingly positive. James gained a million and a half subscribers back to his channel, while Tati was losing subscribers. Tati walked it back. She said, It’s now my opinion that Jeffree and Shane were both bitterly jealous of James Charles’ success. Shane Dawson and Jeffree fed me so much information that I felt sick. Almost every day there was more information and new allegations. Eventually I started believing what they were saying, because they said that they had evidence. I was beyond gaslit." After that video, Morphe stunned buyers by cutting ties with Jeffree Star and his cosmetics company. Later that year, several accusers came forward to say Star has a history of sexual assault, physical violence and, more recently, hush-money offers.
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In the months after ‘No More Lies,’ Charles’ channel grew larger than both Jeffree Star’s and Tati Westbrook’s. He regularly streamed himself playing video games on Twitch, and by December 2020, Charles has uploaded 198 videos to TikTok. On Tiktok, he has 31 million followers - 7 million more than he has on YouTube. He bought a $7 Million home in LA. He became living proof that when you’re an influencer, being the target of ‘cancel culture’ doesn’t necessarily mean your career is over - in Charles’ case, the momentum actually allowed his career to skyrocket.”
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That changed in February 2021. A TikTok user who says he’s 16 posted censored nude photos he says Charles sent him. Soon after, more minors came forward with their experiences. One 17-year-old alleged Charles sent him flirty messages. Another accused Charles of demanding nudes. A 16-year-old revealed sexually explicit messages. He said in a video, As an adult, it is my job and my responsibility to verify who I’m talking to and therefore there is no one to blame for this other than myself. I’m sorry I flirted with you, and I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It is completely unacceptable. “I’m going to be taking some time away to reflect and further educate myself on these topics.”
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By April, Morphe dropped James, and began to wind down sales of the James Charles Artistry Palette. Charles would lose a fortune from the deal. Then, YouTube announced it has temporarily demonetized James Charles’ channel amid the allegations that he sexted minors. The operative word being, temporarily.
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