James Charles slams ‘straight’ TikTok trolls baiting his DMs for views
James Charles, YouTubeYouTuber and makeup mogul James Charles is hitting out at trolls who are posting their direct messages with him as a way to capitalize on past drama surrounding the social media star.
In summer 2019, Charles was publicly slammed by mentor and fellow YouTuber Tati Westbrook, who claimed that the young beauty guru was using his fame as a way to manipulate the sexuality of straight men.
Although he debunked Tati’s claims in a subsequent video and regained his 16 million subscribers, Charles continues to suffer from similar claims, which have now spread to popular short-form video platform TikTok.
James Charles, InstagramThe YouTube star replied to a Tweet of a TikTok that followed the story of a self-labeled 17-year-old straight boy, who had entered Charles’ “TikTok Bachelor” contest as a “joke.”
The boy went on to show that the YouTuber had messaged him as part of the contest, and that he had even played along with the “joke” — but appeared to be disgusted and confused by his advances, captioning the video, “what do I do now…”
so you.. “entered” the bachelor of james as a “joke” .. and got actually upset when he sent you a cute DM? The level of stupidity here is beyond me pic.twitter.com/7vAvtfrSLs
— Sebastian Williams (@sebas_williams) March 6, 2020
Needless to say, Charles wasn’t happy with the video, which he dubbed “queerbaiting and pathetic.”
“This happens weekly at this point,” he wrote. “Some guy slides in my DMs or matches with me claiming they’re interested, we talk for a few days, and once they have enough recorded content for a TikTok or a Tweet, they post it and claim they’re straight. It’s queerbaiting and it’s pathetic.”
This happens weekly at this point. Some guy slides in my DMs or matches with me claiming they’re interested, we talk for a few days, & once they have enough recorded content for a tik tok or tweet, they post it & claim they’re straight. It’s queerbaiting and it’s pathetic. 🤡 https://t.co/6vknQsSJjO
— James Charles (@jamescharles) March 6, 2020
That’s not all: the YouTuber went on to claim that this issue has been happening since before his drama with Westbrook last year, and makes his dating life incredibly “difficult and confusing.”
Not to bring up old tea, but this shows that this stuff is VERY REAL. It was happening before my scandal and continues to happen even MORE now. Many boys are closeted, curious or clout hungry and will do anything for attention. It makes dating extremely difficult and confusing.
— James Charles (@jamescharles) March 6, 2020
This certainly isn’t the first time Charles has addressed such drama, as the star came forward in December 2019 after users on Tinder faked screenshots of his purported direct messages with men on the platform.
While dating can be difficult for any celebrity, considering their fame, Charles continues to battle this unique struggle in wake of the fallout from a scandal he has put far behind him.