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A Complete Timeline of the James Charles Allegations and Controversies

Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage/Getty Images

Back in 2016, a New York loftier-school student casually shared his senior yearbook photos on Twitter. The images quickly went viral as fans admired his incredible makeup skills and popping highlight. The teenager in the photo was James Charles, YouTube'due south now-megafamous makeup creative person and vlogger. His early years of internet fame led him to become the beginning male CoverGirl model and garnered him an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Today, Charles has 25.vii million subscribers on YouTube, 27.iii meg Instagram followers, and 36 one thousand thousand followers on TikTok. Most of his content is makeup-focused; he shares his favorite products and films extravagant tutorials, showtime each video with his catchphrase, "Hey, sisters." It'due south all seemingly innocuous stuff — he's even BFFs with TikTok'southward wholesome D'Amelio sisters. Simply his journeying to internet superstardom has been far from innocent: The 21-year-former has faced an boggling amount of controversy over the past 5 years.

Serious trouble has been steadily brewing for Charles in the past couple of months, David Dobrik–style, and it at present appears the allegations and bad press may exist affecting his career for the beginning fourth dimension. Most recently, it was announced that Charles and cosmetics brand Morphe are cutting ties. On April 19, YouTube also confirmed that his channel is temporarily demonetized, restricting him from making coin on the platform.Hither's a comprehensive timeline of each of Charles's controversies so you tin can predict how much longer this guru's reign will terminal.

February 2017
Charles's kickoff taste of a backlash started after he posted racist tweets about Africa and the Ebola virus. Charles quickly deleted the tweets and issued an apology. CoverGirl also spoke out, stating that it did not support Charles'south comments, yet the makeup brand didn't sever its ties with him.

September 2017
Charles found himself in more drama after he tweeted that the movie Information technology was "atrocious." This annotate acquired a frenzy of backlash, and a stubborn Charles refused to back down against the hate.

Oct 2017
One month later on his It Twitter drama, Charles released a Pennywise-inspired makeup tutorial on his YouTube aqueduct. As you may imagine, the trolls were not happy with this response.

October 2018
While the popular singer Shawn Mendes showed off his juggling skills on Instagram Alive, Charles commented, "Can you lot juggle me similar that?" Other viewers were not happy with the YouTube star's sexual comment, and the incident blew upwards on Twitter. One user tweeted that they had allegedly overheard Mendes speaking negatively about Charles at his album-release party. Mendes direct-messaged Charles to clear things up and assure him that Charles's comments "actually make [him] laugh." Charles shared Mendes'due south message and an additional personal statement on his own Twitter.

March 2018
In a video with fellow YouTubers Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams, Charles stated that Ariana Grande was the rudest celebrity he had ever met and accompanied the claim with a story of his negative interaction with the pop star. He said Grande had unfollowed him because of his controversial history afterwards they messaged on Twitter. Grande'southward fans were quick to defend the vocaliser's decision to unfollow Charles afterwards learning near his problematic past.

September 2018
Charles started a feud with beauty guru and founder of Makeup Geek Marlena Stella later on learning she was making a documentary about the beauty industry with Netflix. Charles spoke out, claiming the documentary had been his thought. He also attacked Stella herself, claiming she was biased and had a vendetta against influencers. Stella defended herself in a tweet.

April 2019
Charles uploaded a video titled "THE TRUTH… My Crush Does My Makeup" with Vlog Squad fellow member and fellow YouTuber Jeff Wittek. In this video, Charles stated that he is not "total gay" because he has been attracted to trans men. Many called the annotate out as transphobic and insensitive. Charles apologized in a tweet.

April 2019
Charles received backlash for the price of tickets for his bout. Fans were peculiarly upset by the $500 VIP parcel, with some challenge it was "sis extortion." In a tweet, Charles explained he had done everything he could to keep prices as low as possible.

Apr 2019
While at Coachella, Charles posted a sponsored video for SugarBearHair vitamins. He later posted an apology directed toward his friend and fellow beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook, every bit SugarBearHair was a direct competitor of Westbrook'south brand, Halo Dazzler. Westbrook and Charles were extremely close friends at the time of the SugarBearHair advertisement. Charles referred to her as "mom" considering he viewed Westbrook equally both a mentor and family unit. Charles even did Westbrook's makeup for her wedding back in 2017. The expose of Westbrook and her company erupted into a serial of controversies for Charles that the net accurately named "Dramageddon two.0."

May 2019
The name Dramageddon had been coined in 2018 to ascertain the very public and messy friendship breakdown between makeup gurus Jeffree Star, Manny MUA, Gabriel Zamora, and Laura Lee. In May 2019, Dramageddon 2.0 over again featured Star; this time, however, he took on unlike makeup YouTubers. Information technology all started when Westbrook posted a since-deleted video outlining all the ways Charles had hurt her afterward the SugarBearHair incident. She said that she had not been warned about his SugarBearHair post and that Charles had never promoted her brand considering, he claimed, he thought it would exist inappropriate to advertise supplements to his teenage audience. Westbrook too said Charles was sexually manipulative and uses his fame confronting those who refused his sexual advances.

Star elevated the drama by posting a cryptic tweet: "There is a reason that Nathan banned James Charles from ever coming over to our dwelling over again. There'southward a reason why I haven't seen him since @GlamLifeGuru's birthday in February. He is a danger to club. Everything Tati said is 100% true." Charles posted a video titled "No More Lies" in reaction to Westbrook and Star in which he apologized for pain Westbrook just offered receipts to prove his innocence against all the allegations. Drama continued after the video was posted, when Star tweeted (then deleted) at Charles's younger blood brother, "Why is your brother a predator??"

May 2019
Another controversy to come up out of Charles's Coachella weekend centered on his Coachella date, the Instagram model Cuff Gomez, who was 20 years old at the time. Gomez claimed Charles had pressured him into sexual situations, even though he had told the influencer he wasn't attracted to men. Charles spoke out in a tweet, stating that he and Gomez had been speaking for five months prior to Coachella and claiming that everything had been consensual.

May 2019
After attending the 2019 Met Gala, Charles posted an Instagram praising the issue for promoting "influencer representation." He faced backlash for implying that the very wealthy and privileged influencer customs was marginalized and required greater representation.

June 2019
Later Dramageddon 2.0 came the demise of Charles's YouTube friend group, Sister Team, which had been made up of himself, Emma Chamberlain, and Ethan and Grayson Dolan. Although the reason for the pop grouping'southward demise was never revealed, many theorized information technology was due to Charles's inappropriate behavior and his alleged queerbaiting toward the Dolan twins after YouTube videos such equally "Grayson Dolan Rejecting James Charles for 2 minutes straight" garnered attention. This theory was further fueled by the fact that the foursome's final collaboration had been posted in December 2018; however, Chamberlain and the Dolan twins were photographed together (without Charles) at Coachella in April 2019.

January 2020
Charles posted an Instagram Story of himself and some friends singing "My Type," by Saweetie, on New year's day's Eve. People started questioning whether the influencer had sung the lyric that included the Due north-word, causing #JamesCharlesIsOverParty to showtime trending on Twitter.

April 2020
Charles participated in the "mugshot tendency" on social media. Using makeup, he gave himself a bruised face and blackness eye and posed as though taking a mugshot. He quickly deleted the images after facing backfire for glamorizing domestic violence and criminal beliefs. In a since-deleted tweet, Charles retaliated with "only I could lazily smudge on some purple eyeshadow and false blood to recreate a impaired tik tok tendency and have it twisted into an actual scandal lol."

Apr 2020
Star appeared on the Mom's Basement podcast and claimed to have a telephone recording of an alleged victim of Charles's sexual abuse. Star neither played nor released the tape and stated, "At the end of the twenty-four hours, I'm not gonna out a victim of James Charles. If it's real, because I don't know if it's existent, and I'll go into another room and play it for you." Star'south advent on the podcast led to the third Dramageddon installment, known equally Dramageddon iii.0 and Karmageddon. This marked the moment when the earth would slowly plow against Star subsequently Westbrook uploaded another damning video — this time directed at him.

June 2020
Westbrook uploaded the video "BREAKING MY SILENCE…" in which she publicly apologized to Charles and claimed she had been manipulated into making the original video by YouTubers Star and Dawson. She claimed she was existence "beyond gaslit" past the two influencers into believing allegations confronting Charles. She ended the video with an apology: "James, I am so sorry that I immune myself to be poisoned and weaponized confronting you. I'grand sorry that I bought into any of their lies. Believing those lies and assuasive myself to be gaslit into making that video is one of the biggest regrets of my life."

July 2020
Charles was in more hot water after attending a party at the TikTok Hype House in the middle of the pandemic. He inserted an apology into a YouTube video titled "A Day in the Life With James Charles" after existence called out by various outlets, including fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley.

August 2020
Charles was forced to repent after subtweeting Alicia Keys when it was announced that she would exist starting a makeup line. He tweeted (and deleted) that "people who do not wear makeup should not exist coming out with makeup brands but that'south just my stance."

September 2020
Ethan Klein, a co-founder of streetwear make Teddy Fresh, accused Charles of copying his designs for his new line of Sisters merchandise. Charles responded with a serial of tweets denying ever copying Klein's color-blocked designs.

November 2020
Charles posted a series of Instagram stories ranting virtually receiving a PR package from someone who had "no business organisation having a makeup brand." He connected to make fun of the products and packaging by maxim they were pretty much empty. It was later revealed via an Instagram comment that the brand in question was by The Hills star Lauren Conrad. She explained that the empty products sent to Charles had been an accidental mixup and claimed the two had reconciled their issues. Charles subsequently apologized through his own Instagram account.

January 2021
Charles faced backlash after defending two TikTok stars — 22-year-former Ondreaz Lopez and 19-year-erstwhile Xavier Lopez — after they faced numerous allegations of "grooming" underage boys. Charles tweeted in solidarity with the victims; even so, users claimed he had dedicated the Lopez brothers back in June.

February 2021
A sixteen-yr-quondam boy claimed Charles had clean-cut him and pressured him into exchanging sexual photos via the Snapchat app. Charles spoke out against the allegations and claimed he had been unaware of the boy's age at the time of the interaction. Charles continued to mail on all of his platforms as though zippo had happened.

February 2021
Iii more males came forwards to share their negative sexual experiences with Charles. A 17-year-old boy shared screenshots alleging that Charles had connected to flirt with him via Instagram message even after learning his age. A 3rd man of an unclear age came frontward to share his negative, sexually fueled conversation with Charles.

March 2021
Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein, hosts of the H3 podcast who are known for their part in the cancellation of David Dobrik, shared tweets speaking out against Chipotle for its recent partnership with Charles. Klein also tweeted against Nickelodeon for allowing Charles to win a Kids' Choice Accolade. Klein tweeted, "Information technology'due south great because kids accept ever been his choice too."

March 2021
Charles was fired from hosting the popular YouTube reality competition show Instant Influencer. A spokesperson for the show told Variety, "We can confirm Flavour 2 of the YouTube originals series 'Instant Influencer' will take a new creative direction, including a new host."

March 2021
A 15-twelvemonth-old teenage boy used TikTok to share screenshots from conversations and photos he had exchanged with Charles. Afterwards the boy started sharing their letters on his Snapchat Story, he claimed Charles had blocked him and accused him of lying about his historic period even though, he said, Charles had always been enlightened of his age.

April 1, 2021
In a new video, Charles apologizes to "two different people, both under the historic period of 18," who came forward about their interactions with him, "one of them beingness from last year and one of them being from more recent." Charles goes on to offer his reasoning on why the incidents took place, including "agony," inexperience, and a misunderstanding of power dynamics. "What I wasn't getting before is that the excitement that comes from talking to a celebrity is literally plenty to make somebody do or say something they normally wouldn't, even if that celebrity isn't intentionally weaponizing their fame, money, or ability," Charles says. "That's the concept I just wasn't getting, but I now do."

April 8, 2021
A full week later James Charles admitted to his inappropriate conversations with minors, brands have connected to stand past him publicly. Morphe, the cosmetics company behind Charles's infamous eyeshadow palette, released a statement to drama channel Rich Lux saying they "do non condone inappropriate online beliefs of whatever form." "Nosotros accept been actively looking into the recent allegations confronting James Charles, and accept suspended marketing of the Morphe X James Charles collaboration while nosotros proceed to evaluate and monitor the situation," reads the statement.

April 9, 2021
Tana Mongeau, a longtime friend and defender of James Charles'due south, disavowed her 2019 tweets defending him after influencer Cuff Gomez claimed Charles tried to "manipulate" him into questioning his sexuality despite knowing Gomez is directly. "100% manipulated and begged to tweet that," Mongeau tweeted two years afterwards. "I was defending someone that was my friend at the time and believed them. sad to see. I later reconciled with Gage and discussed information technology, apologized, heard his side of the story, and now I call him 1 of my closest friends."

April 15, 2021
Diversity reports that Zach Hsieh, the visual artist behind the the YouTube channel ZHC, volition be the new host of Instant Influencer. "We are excited to expand upon the beauty and makeup themes of the first season and introduce a more than various cast of competitors that are artists in a variety of different mediums," Susanne Daniels, YouTube's global head of original content, said in a statement to Variety. "It was always our vision to incorporate dissimilar artistic points of view into the series, and we can't wait for viewers to see all new forms of artistic expression."

April 16, 2021
Morphe and James Charles announce they are catastrophe their partnership and will "current of air down sales of the Morphe x James Charles product," in simultaneous statements. "Information technology is and has always been Morphe'southward goal to create a positive, safe, and empowering space where all beauty lovers can freely share their artistry and passion for cosmetics, and Morphe is committed to furthering that goal," the company said on Twitter.

In a new argument, Charles denies the numerous allegations he did not touch on in his initial amends. "As I said in that video, I can't evidence change overnight, just will overtime," it reads. "Since posting that video, many other people have come forwards with a series of misleading stories and false allegations which have been reported on by many people, creators, and news outlets. My legal team has begun taking activeness against those that accept spread misinformation and/or created completely false stories, equally this has gone too far."

April 19, 2021
It's gone further. YouTube has temporarily demonetized James Charles's channel, removing him from its Partner Program, according to a report by Insider. The platform said it applied its "creator responsibility policy," which states that if a "creator'southward on- and/or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees, or ecosystem, nosotros may accept action to protect the community." The visitor did not say how long the demonetization will last.

April 26, 2021
Kelly Rocklein, a former producer for Charles who is currently suing him for wrongful termination, among other claims, tweets, "Watching the aforementioned people who screwed me over massively end upward in deep scandals isn't news to me, information technology'due south karmic debt." "Won 1, going two for 2 because im all most police force and society," she added in another tweet, referencing a previous lawsuit against influencer Erika Costell who she sued for failure to pay wages.

May viii, 2021
Morphe discounts several James Charles products, apparently as an attempt to "air current downward" sales.

That aforementioned solar day, TikTok user @nouvelshepard exposes a Twitter account linked in the first video uploaded to Charles'due south YouTube channel. The account appeared to have been inactive since 2016, except for a September 2020 tweet maxim the North-give-and-take to Jeffree Star, which may have been the effect of a hack.

May 10, 2021
James Charles logs on for the beginning fourth dimension since posting his argument on April 16 to address the lawsuit by Kelly Rocklein to get ahead of a news story he was asked to comment on. In a vii-minute video uploaded to Twitter, he says he feels "blackmailed" by "untrue" allegations. "My squad is like family to me," he says, using the No. 1 red flag for an employee. Charles continues by maxim wrongful-termination suits are "unfortunately" mutual in the industry and "quite a headache" for "the defendant, which means myself." "This is just perfect user-friendly timing as well, considering this past weekend my old Twitter business relationship, which I have not accessed since 2016 and only has i tweet, I guess was hacked last year and the hacker publicly tweeted somebody the N-discussion and people actually thought that it was me," he says, briefly addressing the controversy. He ends the video by thanking fans and urging them to stick by him. "I just want to give some sort of explanation and then you lot guys know and, hopefully, are able to see this and what'due south happening hither for what it really is," he finishes off.

May 12, 2021
Insider shares details from Kelly Rocklein'due south lawsuit in a new report. Rocklein, 26, was 23 when she worked for Charles as an editor, producer, and creative director for vi months. She alleges wrongful termination after she passed out at a nail salon while with Charles and suffered a concussion, too every bit disability discrimination, failure to provide reasonable accommodation, and failure to pay minimum wage for overtime. Rocklein claims she worked eighty hours or more a week. She also alleges Charles called her names like "bitch" and used the "N-word" in front of her, which another source also told Insider.

Rocklein says she wished to settle, but Charles and his legal team declined in 2019, preferring individual arbitration, where a third-party (paid for by Sis Sister LLC) makes a decision. The court denied arbitration, on account of a new California law, and the lawsuit moved to litigation, though Charles's team extended the process further past appealing. They are currently awaiting a conclusion from the courtroom. In response to Charles's claim that Rocklein was blackmailing him, her attorney said Charles's legal team tried to kill the Insider report by offering a settlement to "buy her silence." "James made a reasonable settlement offering for an employment lawsuit, she countered with an outrageous amount of money to settle and to retract her public statements, James wasn't willing to pay her off," Sam Mangan, Charles's director, told Insider in a statement. "The offer made was to silence Kelly and to take her retract the story and it was in no way reasonable considering all the damages that she is entitled to under the law," Rocklein's lawyer said.

A Timeline of James Charles Allegations and Controversies