James Charles hits back at Tati Westbook’s claim he ‘manipulated’ a man’s sexuality
"I have never, and would never, and will never use my 'fame', money or power, to manipulate or get any sexual actions from a guy."
By Will Stroude
James Charles has hit back at claims by former friend and mentor Tati Westbrook that he used his fame and money to ‘manipulate’ a man’s sexuality, saying that everything that happened between the pair was “100% consensual”.
The YouTube star and beauty vlogger, 19, has lost millions of follwers on social media since a public ‘takedown’ video was published by Westbrook last week, in which, among other things, she accused him of attempting “trick a straight man into thinking he’s gay.”
The video came after public falling out between the pair which began when Charles promoted a vitamin supplement on social media which was a competitor to Westbrook’s own brand.
Charles filmed an apology after Westbrook’s video was published, apologising both to her and admitting he had “learned the hard way about boys that I am interested in, and also ones that I should or shouldn’t be talking to.”
Now, the teenage influencer has published another video in which he insists he “never” used his fame to influence the man’s sexuality, saying any contact between the pair was “100% consesual” and sharing screenshotis of messages from the man, a waiter named Sam, in which he says he identifies as bisexual.
“First of all, I’m a 19-year-old virgin. I talk about boys quite a lot on my social media networks. Clearly at this point it’s not acceptable anymore… just thought I’d bring it up, put it out into the universe, I don’t really get a lot of action,” Charles said.
“That being said, I have never, and would never, and will never use my ‘fame’, money or power, to manipulate or get any sexual actions from a guy.
“That is disgusting, it is not me, and the fact that Tati brought this up blows my mind, because she knows the real story.”
The man at the centre of the story, Sam, has also published his won video detailing his relationship with Charles, admitting that he did welcome the contact the the beauty blogger.
“In his video, Sam mentioned he was perfectly fine and happy with the flirting I was doing,” Charles explains.
He continued: “A few minutes into the conversation we were having I asked about his sexuality and he said straight up [that] he was bi[sexual]. There was no straight man being manipulated in the story like Tati mentioned.
Explaining that the pair once met in a hotel room, where they cuddled and made out, he added: “Everything that happened was 100% consensual.”
After Westbrook’s video went viral, Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson also took to Twitter to reveal that Charles has sent direct messages to her boyfriend, model and former Attitude cover star Brian Whittaker.
In the new video Charles admits he does send direct messages to boys he finds “cute”, and that the “experience” of the last few weeks would see him avoid sending such messages in the future.
“I am attracted to men. Whenever I found someone cute I would send them a simple message saying ‘hello’ or a nice compliment,’ he said.
“If anyone made it clear they weren’t interested I would apologise for the unwanted attention and the conversation was put to a halt immediately.”