YouTube Demonetizes Influencer James Charles’ Channel After Sexting With Minors Allegations

On Monday, YouTube has decided to temporarily suspend ads on beauty influencer James Charles‘ YouTube channel after allegations that he had been sexting with minors. The Internet personality can no longer make money on videos from sponsored ads in YouTube’s Partner Program. The allegations go against the website’s “creator responsibility policy.”

“If we see that a creator’s on-and/or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem, we may take action to protect the community,” the policy read. YouTube also has the authority to make measures against a creator who goes against their policy.

On April 1, Charles posted a video titled “Holding Myself Accountable” to his 25.5 million YouTube subscribers. Charles wanted to address the 15 allegations from different men and boys, dating back to 2019. Charles apologized for his “reckless” behavior and for abusing the position of power he holds. He also admitted that he “flirted” with underage boys but claimed that those individuals lied about their real ages.

“For me, having a public platform has become such a huge part of my life that a this point, it does feel ‘normal’,” he said in the video. “But I have to understand that to 99.9 perfect of people, it’s not normal and will never be normal—and that’s where the power imbalance lies that I wasn’t understanding.”

It is unknown for how long Charles’ will not be able to monetize off his channel. YouTube took similar action against creator David Dobrik and Dominykas Zeglaitis after they were accused of rape, as well as Shane Dawson after an only video of him using the n-word came to light.

On April 16, Charles further addressed the situation and the mutual decision to end his Morphe makeup collection.

“Accountability is something that I have spoken about a number of times in the past. In my most recent video, I spoke about and took accountability for my part in the conversations I had with a few individuals who told me they were over the age of 18,” he wrote. “As I said in that video, I can’t show change overnight but will overtime. Since posting that video, many others people have come forwards with a series of misleading stories and false allegations which have been reported on by many people, creators and news outlets.”

“My legal team has begun taking action against those that have spread misinformation and/or created completely fake stories, as this has gone too far. These stories have cause many of my long-term partners to received considerable negative feedback, one of them being Morphe,” he continued. “I’ve loved every moment working together and am beyond grateful for what we’ve created together. That being said, I reached out to them and we mutually agreed to wind down out James Charles x Morphe collaboration, which is my only project with them.”

Charles added, “I am continuing to take time away to learn, grow and listen and look forward to co ming back one day in the future as a better version of myself.”