Sexual assault and pedophilia are not foreign subjects in the entertainment world, especially with the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Woody Allen to name a few, and influencer James Charles is due to join the list.

Recently, Youtube and social media influencers are now joining the large list of accused celebrities, such as James Charles.

With Sexual Assault Awareness Month being in April, it seems as if more and more victims of these influencers are speaking out and being heard.

James Charles, 21 year old social media influencer and makeup guru, has been facing allegations of the exchange of sexual images and messages with minors, as well as sexual assault against of age men.

In May of 2019 Tati Westbrook, longtime friend and mentor of James Charles, alleged in a now deleted video of hers that Charles was “sexually manipulative and used his fame against those who refused his sexual advances.”

Again in May of 2019 Gage Gomez, American Instagram model, accused Charles of pressuring him to commit sexual acts with him after Gomez explained to Charles his sexual orientation was not homosexual. 

In February of 2021, an unidentified 16-year-old boy claimed Charles had pressured him into exchanging sexual photos through the popular app Snapchat.

Charles later explained he had no idea the boy was in fact a minor, claiming the boy lied to him about his age saying he was older.

In the same month, three more underage boys spoke out about their negative sexual experiences with the makeup artist. 

In March of 2021, Charles was fired from his Youtube reality show, Instant Influencer, due to the sexual assault allegations swirling in the media towards him.

In the same month of his termination from the show, a 15-year-old boy shared screenshots from sexually oriented conversations and photos he had exchanged with Charles.

The boy claimed James Charles had blocked him and accused him of lying about his age once again, even though he said Charles had been aware of his age from the beginning of the conversations.

On April 1, 2021, Charles released a video on his Youtube channel titled “Holding myself accountable”, in which he admits to exchanging sexual images and conversations with minors. 

In the video with now over 7.4 million views, Charles claims the reasoning as to why those illegal exchanges occurred was due to his “desperation” and misunderstandings. 

Multiple brands that have associated with Charles in the past are currently “looking into” the allegations, one of those brands being Morphe Cosmetics.   

Other brands like Chipotle are managing to continue supporting Charles despite the upsetting controversial events.

Whether or not there are other victims of Charles’, underage or of age victims will not be known until they speak out to the world or authorities.

Hopefully the downfall of Weinstein, Cosby, Allen, Dobrik and now Charles will help victims come out and speak their truth against other known or unknown assaulters.