Trending 3rd April 2021 by Hannah Hillyer
James Charles Has Admitted To Having ‘Flirty’ Conversations With Two Underage Boys
“Upon finding out, I was immediately embarrassed and blocked both people.”
James Charles has often found himself the centre of some new online drama, and recently he has once again been accused of sending inappropriate messages to underage boys. Similar allegations have been made before, but this time the YouTube star has made a lengthy video discussing and apologising for his actions.
The MUA shared a 14 minute video to his channel this week called “holding myself accountable” in which he reveals more about the incident.
He shared that he believed these two 16-year-olds he had been messaging over Snapchat were actually 18; “In both of these cases, I added these people on Snapchat, asked how old they were right away, was told that they were 18, believed them, engaged in a flirty conversation and then later on found out that they were actually 16.”
“Upon finding out, I was immediately embarrassed and blocked both people.”
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The 21-year-old shared that he believes, that as an adult, he should have been more thorough about checking their profiles to confirm their ages. Speaking further about this in his video he said; “I f**ked up.”
“These conversations should’ve never happened, point blank, period. There is no excuse for it, there is no ifs, ands or buts and I take full responsibility for that.”
“As an adult, it is my job and my responsibility to verify who I’m talking to, and therefore there is no one else to blame for this but myself,” he added.
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Finally the make-up guru revealed that his behaviour stems from the fact that he is “desperate” for a relationship which is what led to this recklessness on social media. He also apologised to the two boys involved for his inappropriate messages.
“To the guys involved in the situation, I wanna say I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I flirted with you and I’m really sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable. It is completely unacceptable.”
As well as an apology James did also speak about the fact that as a celebrity, with over 25 million subscribers on YouTube, this creates a “power imbalance” between him and his fans.
He shared that often fans are so excited to speak to him that it can lead to these situations; “What I wasn’t getting before is that the excitement that comes with talking to a celebrity is literally enough to make somebody do or say something they normally wouldn’t.”
“Even if that celebrity isn’t even intentionally weaponising their fame, money or power. That’s the concept I just wasn’t getting, but I now do.”
You can watch the full video below.