Notorious California influencer James Charles is currently under fire after he mocked, insulted, and ridiculed a recently laid-off airline worker who asked for his help. He has since deleted the clip and issued an apology, but the backlash has continued.
The clip was reuploaded by Jackie Asamoah, who has 3.4 million followers on TikTok. While her focus is on clothing and makeup, her criticism of James’s clip quickly became viral. It garnered 3.1 million views, 607,200 likes, and more than 6,000 comments in less than a day.
In the now-deleted clip, James details that a “girl” who was recently laid off by Spirit Airlines reached out to him via his DMs. She told him she was really struggling and shared a GoFundMe link with the California influencer, adding, “Any donations help.”
James, instead of ignoring the message, chose to rant about it to his millions of followers. He told the woman to get another job instead of messaging him, calling her a “lazy piece of [expletive] and entitled.”
“Welcome to the real world, sweetheart. People lose their jobs every [expletive] day,” James continued. “You’re white, pretty, and able-bodied. You’re in a much better position than a lot of people out here who are trying, clearly, much harder to make a better life for themselves. Why would I [expletive] help you?“
Backlash, Video Deleted, Apology
The backlash was almost immediate.
Viewers heavily blasted James for his out-of-the-blue rant, with one viewer saying, “It’s crazy that people still support him.” Another one added, “I thought we canceled him,” referring to the California man’s past controversies.
Jackie herself called James’ clip “disgusting.” She added, “That’s probably one of the worst things I’ve ever seen an influencer say willingly on camera.”
Eventually, James deleted the clip and later posted an apology video. The backlash, according to him, made him “second-guess” what he said, understand what he said was hurtful, and made him check his “privilege.”
“This video was [expletive] stupid,” he said. “It was rude, it was obnoxious, it was privileged, and most importantly, it was completely [expletive] unnecessary.”
While some of his followers were on his side, the backlash remains ongoing, with many pointing out that it is his fans who “fund” his lifestyle. Regardless, he is willing to donate to the woman who reached out to him now, he said, although he cannot find the original DM since his messages were “flooded.”
