James Charles has once again found himself in the middle of some intense internet drama. However, this time it’s different; it deals with domestic violence. On April 4, TikTok star Kayla Malecc went viral for exposing her abusive boyfriend. Malecc released two YouTube videos named “he doesn’t love you”, with each video being about two hours long. She goes on to give proof of abuse by showing her bruises and scars from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Johnson. She also posts several videos on her TikTok about how she will be going to court, stating he needs to go to prison.
Not too soon after, Zac Sellars got involved by admitting that his “ex” friend, Johnson, had confided in him about the abuse. Sellars shared that Johnson had shown him an incriminating video displaying the abuse. Sellars later accused Charles of having an inappropriate relationship with Johnson. Along with that, he also accused Charles of teaching Johnson how to adjust to the internet hate and deal with the allegations he was facing.
For the month that this drama was circulating, Charles decided to stay quiet. He posted his regular content but strategically did not address the controversy, even though his TikTok comments were coming for him. On April 26, Charles posted his last TikTok before his week-long “hiatus.” This break only allowed for more things to circulate, with his TikTok comments going crazy without public mention of the allegations.
On April 7, Malecc went to court and won her case against Johnson. This was a major celebration for everyone. Her TikTok announcing that she won has over 15.4 million likes and 105.5 million views. Many influencers/internet personalities like Kesha, Jacob Sartorius, and more all commented on the post, embracing their love for Malecc. Not even an hour later, Charles posted a video, addressing the situation.
I can admit that as a jobless person, I, too, was stalking Charles’s page, waiting for his response. When the video was posted, I immediately turned it on. The video is about 11 minutes long and features Charles “admitting” to what has been happening. However, that entire video was just a whole lot of yap. Charles admits to a variety of different things, all of which have no meaning. He talked about his relationship with Johnson and tried to portray that nothing had actually happened between the two.
Following that, Charles also tried to portray the fact that he and Malecc were not actually close friends by showing receipts of conversations between the two, trying to make it seem like they were distant friends. However, in these conversations, there are things Malecc said that show she was not in a safe situation.
In their texts, Charles said, “Can I have him now?” to which Malecc later said, “Imagine like the worst things a human can do to you it would take hours to text it.” Charles later said that he did not take this seriously as they were not close friends. However, that seems a little absurd.
Charles is notorious for being in internet drama that stays relevant years later. However, previously, it has never been as serious as this situation. Malecc made another series to share the controversy surrounding her and Charles. She shows that Charles responded to a TikTok of her when she was still dating Johnson, saying, “Girl he’s so hot.” She mentions that the only time they would talk after that was when Charles discussed how hot Malecc’s boyfriend is.
Alright, even though Charles was not completely aware of Johnson being an abuser, calling your friend’s boyfriend hot several times is still off-putting. Making excuses as to not knowing about your friend’s abusive situation is one thing, but continuing to hit on their abusive partner at the same time is irrationally insensitive.
Charles’ continuous involvement in these extremely controversial situations shows a lot about his true character. As avid media watchers, we cannot keep enabling this behavior, and we need to successfully cancel Charles once and for all.