Mia Williams
This is how James Charles, worth $22 million, lost one million subscribers in a single day.
James Charles is arguably one of YouTube’s most famous makeup gurus, and is reportedly worth around $22 million.
After working with the likes of Kylie Jenner, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and countless others, how did he manage to lose over one million of his devoted subscribers in one day?
Wel,l it all starts with his close friendship to Tati Westbrook, a 42-year-old Youtuber and makeup artist who took James under her wing when he started out in the industry.
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After securing herself a devoted audience after eight years of making videos on the platform, she was able to set up her company Halo Beauty, a line of beauty supplements and vitamins.
Fast forward years of friendship and collaboration between the two, James posted an ad on his Instagram, which turned out to be one of Tati’s biggest competitors.
In a series of videos she posted to Instagram, she said: “When you do things for people in your life and they not only don’t return the favour but they don’t even see you.
“Welcome to show business, everybody says what they need to say, and uses who they need to use to get ahead, and I have had about enough.
“It’s not right.”
You might have expected James to take down the post immediately after realising, but instead, he promised that he wasn’t paid to post the brand, despite labelling it as an ad.
Days later, the drama got juicier, when Tati uploaded a 43-minute-long video to her YouTube channel titled ‘BYE SISTER’.
In the video, she called out his disloyalty, but also accused James, who is gay, of tricking a ‘straight’ waiter at a restaurant they attended together.
In the video, she said: “You tried to trick a straight man into thinking that he’s gay yet again, and somehow you’re the victim.
“You know it’s really disgusting to manipulate someone’s sexuality... you are using your fame, your power, your money to play with people’s emotions.”
Amidst this quite serious allegation, James made a response video in which he detailed that he made ‘mistakes’.
In his video, he said: “[I have] been in a lot of very unique, strange situations that have left people confused or upset.
“I learned the hard way about ways that I can interact with people that I’m interested in, and also ones that I should or shouldn’t be talking to.”
The same day, James lost just over one million subscribers from his account on the platform, and was unfollowed on social media by a lot of his famous pals in the industry.
These included Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, YouTubers Tana Mongeau, Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson, musicians Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and many more.
James seems to have recovered from the so-called ‘scandal’, as his channel now has over 23 million subscribers, and continues to make videos, despite his controversies.