Spirit Airlines notably laid off 17,000 employees and ceased operations due to the fuel prices. One woman from Massachusetts even opened a GoFundMe account to ask people online for help. However, drama ensued after a big influencer named James Charles spotlighted this particular woman and bashed her for asking for donations after she got laid off. While Charles has apologized, the woman whom he aggrieved was not convinced.
TikTok user Amber, aka @a_rebmaa, was the former Spirit Airlines worker in question, and on May 14, she posted several videos revealing James Charles’ private apology sent to her TikTok account. However, Amber made fun of Charles’ apology and even turned it into a song. In several follow-up videos, Amber also explained that she has “really bad anxiety” and that she said “[Expletive] no” to the apology.
Amber also didn’t respond to Charles’ apology because “He was very public with what he said, and he thought it was okay to message me.” In one of Amber’s videos, she also wrote the caption, “You apologized in private after embarrassing me publicly. But some damage doesn’t disappear just because you finally feel guilty,” as one of her explanations.
James Charles has since deleted the mockery video and even donated around $500 and then $5000 to Amber’s GoFundMe, something he mentioned in his apology, along with words of goodwill and acknowledgment that what he did to the laid-off Spirit Airlines worker was “disgustingly out of touch.”
Meanwhile, Amber’s GoFundMe has relatively blown up. It initially had a goal of around $1,600, but it’s now well past $40,000 and counting. Amber also shared her friends’ GoFundMe pages to help them recover from their financial situation. As for James Charles, it appears he hasn’t responded yet to the videos.
James Charles became a hate magnet
Despite James Charles’ written and vocal apology, the latter of which he posted on a secondary account instead of his main account, people still continued to criticize him on social media. “[Expletive] I can’t stand him. The judgement is vile. But it’s the laughing … it’s ugly behaviour,” fumes one commenter on X. Another commenter accused James Charles of being a sociopath.
“It Triggered you cuz you’re a horrible demon. You can’t relate to human struggles. Didn’t he throw a tantrum when the tiktok was banned for like..24hrs??” says another X user, pertaining to James Charles’ reaction to Amber’s GoFundMe. Some even pointed out how James Charles also cried when TikTok was on the verge of getting banned in the US back in 2025 and how me might lose his money-making platform.
