YouTube beautician and makeup artist James Charles has denied an allegation that he groomed a 16-year-old fan.
Charles claims he asked the alleged victim for his age and that the person claimed he was 18.
Charles’ comments were in response to a video that went viral on social media platforms, including Twitter. The video featured a boy who accused Charles of sending him explicit messages and images.
Accuser alleged that Charles sent explicit messages to him on Snapchat
In the video (see below), the accuser claimed that James Charles, 21, sent him inappropriate messages and images on Snapchat.
He alleged that he started chatting with Charles because he admired him and he was excited to receive a message from him. The accuser claimed he understood the conversation to be a chat between a fan and an influencer.
He posted screenshots of his alleged conversation with Charles that he claimed were inappropriate.
James Charles claimed the accuser said he was 18 years old
James Charles took to Twitter earlier today to respond to the grooming allegation (see tweet below).
Charles said that he started flirting with the accuser only after he asked for his age and he said was 18.
He went on to say that he was so excited to meet the fan that he did not ask for a copy of his ID or passport to confirm his age.
Charles said he later began suspecting that the person hadn’t told him the truth about his age, so he asked him again to confirm his age and this time he admitted he was 16.
“I told him I was really uncomfortable and apologized for flirting, but he insisted on continuing talking, saying it could be our little secret, he’s a fan of mine and would never tell anyone,” Charles wrote.
Charles said he told the person he wasn’t OK with the suggestion and when he saw that the person was upset he unfriended him.
“I’m not victim blaming him or victimizing myself either, simply sharing what happened and what happened was not ok,” Charles wrote in his Twitter statement.
He said that was not the first time he had been the target of similar accusations and that he would never knowingly engage with an underage fan.
Charles said that going forward, he would always demand that people who contact him show their ID to prove their age.
The latest incident comes after James Charles’s Twitter account was allegedly hacked in August 2019.
In November 2020, Charles was a guest of Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, and their parents, Marc and Heidi, on their YouTube series, Dinner with the D’Amelios.
The beauty YouTuber has more than 25.7 million subscribers on the video platform, as well as 27 million followers on Instagram and 7.8 million followers on Twitter.