Cancel culture is something that has always existed, but it wasn’t as mainstream as it is now. It’s very common for people to be canceled for literally anything; being canceled because of something they said or something they did. This idea of canceling people has become something normalized in today's society. When someone is canceled, they lose the support of their audience, whether that’s them bashing anyone who still supports said person or boycotting anything that has to do with them.
There is one influencer that comes in mind when I think about being canceled, and that is James Charles. James Charles was the first boy to ever be featured on Covergirl, this was huge as no boy has EVER been recognized by this makeup company. From the very beginning of his career, many people began to judge his every move, he couldn’t do anything without being criticized for it.
Because of the number of followers, this made it rather easy for people to keep tabs on him. One thing James was known for, was pursuing straight males, this was something speculated about him but never confirmed. It wasn’t until some guy named Gage Gomez that James found himself in some serious heat, allegations against him were made, and that was when things got out of control. Gomez accused James of taking advantage of him when he was confused about his sexual orientation.
It wasn’t long after this happened that one of his former friends: Tati Westbrook had exposed James on how he manipulated people into doing what he wanted. Posting a 40-minute video talking about several instances shes witness or heard about him behaving inappropriately around straight men. Stating that she no longer wishes to be associated with him.
The video depicted James as this guy who was on the hunt for straight men only and when things didn't go his way he played the victim. Explaining how he took advantage of vulnerable people using his "fame, power and money" to manipulate people's emotions, according to Tati. Tati mentioned how she told him to get help on numerous occasions but how none of it affected him.
This outraged many fans. He lost many subscribers the day after this video went up. The amount of hate he received was astonishing. Many people returned a pallet he made in a collab with Morphe. James received a lot of hate from the public. I get what he did was bad, but the amount of hate he received was so unnecessary. The amount of hate was too much even for me and I wasn’t the one being grilled; I couldn’t imagine what it was like for him. Many people were against James and anyone who defended him was also canceled. This idea of canceling people is a rather toxic way of fixing problems. How are people suspected to learn from their mistakes if they’re not given the opportunity?
.The fact that he had to take a break from social media to remain sane is just sad. The amount of influence others has on us is worrying. In the end, people are just human and humans make mistakes.
