Upstate NY native James Charles denies ‘grooming’ underage fan on Snapchat
Upstate New York native James Charles is denying claims that he “groomed” a minor on Snapchat. The YouTube star, best known for beauty and makeup videos, issued a statement Friday responding to a 16-year-old who claimed Charles, 21, sent explicit images and asked the teen to send photos and videos of their “body.” James admitted to exchanging photos, but thought the underage fan was actually 18.
“The accusation that I have groomed this person is completely false,” James said. “Last week, I came across someone on my instagram explore page, saw he followed me, and added him on snapchat... The next morning, I woke up to several snaps from this person being excited I added him back, saying [they] loved me and [they] told me [they were] 18 so I started flirting back.”
The beauty vlogger said he apologized once he learned the person was 16, and became “uncomfortable” when the fan allegedly offered to continue a relationship in secret. James says he now believes they “had an ulterior motive from the beginning” and will ask for proof of everyone’s age in the future:“Because of situations like this, instead of taking someone’s word for it, I now will ask to see the ID or passport of every [person] I have a conversation with.”
Charles rose to fame on social media while attending Bethlehem Central High School in the Albany area, and became CoverGirl’s first male model (or “CoverBoy,” as Katy Perry described him) at 16 years old. Today he has more than 25 million subscribers on YouTube and 27 million followers on Instagram, where he provides beauty tutorials and promotes his own makeup products.
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