Beauty influencer James Charles has apologized for sexting with underage fans, saying he should have been more diligent at finding out their true ages.
YouTube beauty vlogger James Charles is taking full responsibility for recent allegations that he exchanged inappropriate, flirty messages online with boys who turned out to be underage. The 21-year-old posted a nearly 15 minute video to YT on Apr. 1 titled Holding Myself Accountable where be explained how he believed the people he was interacting with were 18, but didn’t do the due diligence online to find out their true ages.
“Within the past couple of weeks, two different people under the age of 18 have recently come forward saying they had inappropriate messages from me on social media,” explained. He claimed he added those people on Snapchat, “asked how old they were right away, was told they were 18, believed them, engaged in a flirty conversation and later on found out that they were 16.” James said that, “Upon finding out, I was embarrassed and immediately blocked both people.”
“Later on when I saw them making videos about it, and those videos going viral, my immediate reaction was to be really, really upset,” James continued. He said he initially wanted to make a video defending himself as he did in 2019’s No More Lies, but “As I did more research on these topics and self-reflected, I realized that the receipts and the screenshots and the specific details of the interaction really don’t matter because I f**ked up, and I needed to take accountability for my actions and, most importantly, apologize to the people who were affected by them.”
“I trusted the information that was given to me rather than the information I could have and should have gotten myself,” he explained. “In both of these situations, doing research into these people’s public social-media profiles would’ve revealed their true ages, and therefore these conversations would have never happened in the first place. But I didn’t do the research, and that is what is so embarrassing,” James confessed.
“To the guys involved in the situation, I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I added you, I’m sorry that I flirted with you, and I’m really sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable. It’s completely unacceptable,” James continued. He then added that he had done self reflection about why he’s so “put together” in all other aspects of his life, but that he’s done self examination as to why’s he’s been “reckless” and why relationships were the “one outlier” in his life that wasn’t working.
“I finally came to a conclusion. It sucks, and it’s ridiculously embarrassing to admit this, but I think I have to…and I’m desperate,” James sadly explained. “I do understand that when these videos come into light, it’s really looking like I’m actively searching for younger people to be in a relationship with. And I just want to say first hand that is obviously not the case. My hope has always been to be in a relationship with someone my age or older, and unfortunately I have not been able to find that person yet.”
James went on to confess that, “The idea of being in a relationship became so important to me that I was willing to trust too quickly, miss out on red flags and most importantly not take the precautionary measures that somebody should be taking before talking to anybody. And there’s no excuse tor that.”
James went on to explain how he used his Instagram Explore page and TikTok For You page “like a dating app and that eventually I would find the right person. But that’s just not how dating works literally at all. It’s gross, it’s weird, and it’s desperation.” James then said he thought it was really important that he share his thought process and how he’s worked with professionals behind the scenes so that he can “fully understand the situation so I can properly hold myself accountable for how I got here in the first place.”
The makeup artist then ended the video by saying he is “completely okay” with the conversation being ongoing. “I didn’t understand how a situation like this could affect the people involved, but now I do, and for that, to the victims, I am so, so sorry. And I promise that something like this will never ever happen again.”