Just a few days ago, James Charles had more than 16 million of them, but now his following has tumbled to 14.6 million following a series of controversies. If you don't know the bloke from Adam, basically he's a 19-year-old beauty vlogger with a mostly teenage audience who posts videos of him doing makeup and stuff like that. However, the American lost around 20,000 followers in the days after he attended the MET Gala on Monday, which he described as 'a step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in the media' ... I mean, where do you even start with a statement like that? But while this comment was undeniably wanky, it didn't have a disastrous effect on his subscriber numbers. Rather, it was his former friend, Tati Westbrook's, allegation that Charles was attempting to 'turn straight men gay' that saw his subscriber count plummet. On Friday, Charles lost more than half a million subscribers, and on Saturday he lost a whopping 1.26 million more.
Fellow YouTuber Westbrook made the allegations about Charles in a video, in which she claimed: "You tried to trick a straight man into thinking that he's gay yet again, and somehow you're the victim. You know it's really disgusting to manipulate someone's sexuality... you are using your fame, your power, your money to play with people's emotions."You're threatening to ruin them, you're threatening to embarrass them, and you're doing that to have them behave sexually in your favour even if they're straight, and you know what, that's not okay.
Indeed, it seems the people have backed Westbrook, as she has gained almost a million subscribers in the same period. Charles has since issued an apology to Westbrook (in the form of a YouTube video, of course), in which he admitted to playing the victim in the past. He said: "What sucks the most is that I know there's nothing I can say or do to ever earn that friendship or trust back but I don't blame them for it."A lot of the time when I've had to address things in the past, I've acted out of impulse and I've gone off and tried to pull receipts or facts or screenshots and play the victim and I'm not doing that today, I'm not. That is all I have to say, I'm sorry."
James Charles ✔@jamescharles
to clarify, I begged my team to change prices but because of contracts with the venues, it was not possible. instead, I made sure to meet & greet was more accessible and ensured that the highest ticket was worth the price. I'm sorry I can't make everyone happy, I'm trying my best.
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Charles has also faced criticism from fans recently over the price of tickets on his Sisters tour, some of which were priced at $500 (£387).