Beauty expert James Charles admitted that he sent sexually explicit messages to two 16-year-old boys.
In a video statement posted on his YouTube channel, Charles said that he fully understand why his actions were wrong.
Allegations against the 21-year-old beauty expert first circulated on social media earlier this year.
Just this February, the YouTube star, who now has 25 million subscribers in his channel, was accused by a teenager of grooming. Charles denied this allegation, saying that he flirted with the teenager thinking that he was already 18 years old.
In the 14-minute video titled “Holding Myself Accountable,” Charles added that the conversation should never have happened. He admitted that there were two incidents. The first one happened in 2020, while the second one was this year. However, he noted that he was not aware that both the boys were teenagers were underage and only learned about it later on.
Charles also said that he should have searched for the boys’ profiles on social media platforms to find out their real ages before starting a conversation with them.
He noted that as an adult, he should be the one who is responsible for verifying who he is talking to. For this reason, he has no one else to blame but himself.
Moreover, the YouTube star publicly apologized to the boys. He would also take time away from social media so that he could educate himself about such issues.
Despite saying that the two underage boys told him that they were 18 and only found out about their real ages, many people were not buying it later on. They even pointed out that influencers often admit their mistakes only when their reputation or the brands they endorse were at stake.
Charles Says He is Desperate
The issue was not the first time that the beauty influencer has faced such a controversy.
Back in 2019, he allegedly used his fame and money to manipulate someone’s sexuality — an allegation that he denied.
Moreover, when he was asked why he has done such reckless actions during his past relationships, his answer was because he was “desperate.”
Charles also made a video to address this accusation. There, he promised that he would be more careful with his actions moving forward.
However, time passed, and he said in his recent video that he began to ignore the red flags again. The video ended with him promising viewers that he will be more cautious in the future. He also said that he would stop treating social media as dating apps.
Other YouTubers Were Also Accused of Sexual Explicitness
It seems like accusations of sexual misconduct done by YouTubers have become more and more common. In fact, some of the alleged YouTube stars admitted their wrongdoings.
In 2019, singer Austine Jone’s YouTube channel was taken down by the company after admitting that he exchanged sexually explicit videos and images with underage girls.
Similarly, David Dobrik, one of the top earners of YouTube last year, had his channel demonetized after he was accused of raping a former associate. Dobrik, however, denied this allegation.
The video-sharing giant decided to suspend ads on Dobrik’s videos after a woman told Insider that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by a former member of the singer’s “Vlog Squad.” Notably, such is a group of friends who often collaborated and created prank and stunt-style YouTube videos.
The woman, who hides under the pseudonym “Hannah,” told the online magazine that Dominykas Zeglaitis, or more popularly known as Durte Dome, got her drunk. After that, he sexually assaulted her. This happened when she went to the group’s house to film a video way back in 2018.
Influencers Often Buy Real YouTube Views To Benefit Themselves
Moreover, the allegation came one month after Joseth “Seth” Francois, a former member of the Vlog Squad, told BuzzFeed News that he had been tricked into kissing another YouTuber Jason Nash in one of the group’s videos.
Furthermore, the Google-owned video-sharing platform finally suspended monetization on three of the singer’s channels. That includes his main YouTube channel, “David Dobrik Too,” and his podcast channel, “Views.” In addition to that, YouTube has also demonetized Zeglaitis’ channel, which has a total of 854,000 subscribers.
According to YouTube, the aforementioned suspensions are temporary. However, it declined to share how long the demonetization could last.
The video-sharing giant noted that it has strict policies that prohibit sexual harassment on the platform. It emphasized that it took sexual misconduct allegations seriously and noted that David Dobrik and Dominykas Zeglaitis violated its Creator Responsibility policy.
Moreover, Dbrik released a video where he apologized for the accusations thrown at Zeglaitis. He also noted that he fully believes in the statement of the woman who accused Zeglaitis of assault.
James Charles Buys YouTube Views
In the video, Dobrik said that he was not aware that he created an unfair power dynamic whenever people were invited to make videos with them. He added that it seems like people had to be silent about the issue for the sake of his video, which is something he is sorry for. Could this biological need to exploit underage drive him to buy YouTube views to increase his odds of success?
This video was published a week after Dobrik posted his first video on YouTube to apologize and tell his fans that he was sorry to have let them down. The second video was published after dozens of brands, including EA Sports, Facebook, and Dollar Shave Club, have dropped Dobrik. He also lost 300,000 YouTube subscribers due to the issue.
Furthermore, Dobrik has also stepped down from the board of Dispo. Such is a camera and photo-sharing app that had of Dispo after the sexual assault accusation spread like wildfire. Notably, Dispo is a camera and photo-sharing app that he co-founded.
Yet, Dobrik still has a formidable presence on YouTube, where he has approximately 18 million subscribers.
Date: June 15, 2021 / Categories: YouTube, / Author: Joy P
