Social Media star James Charles was embroiled in the 'grooming' controversy after he shared pictures of himself watching minor Minecraft YouTuber, Purpled. Social media users warned Charles to stop interacting with the 17-year-old YouTuber.
In March, Charles was accused of grooming two minors by sending them inappropriate messages and pictures. While a 16-year-old claimed to receive flirtatious message from Charles, another boy name Isaiyah revealed that the influencer demanded his pictures.
Who is Purpled?
Grayson, 17, popularly known as Purpled, is an American Minecraft YouTuber and Twitch streamer based in Virginia. According to YouTube Fandom, he is the most famous for playing Minecraft server Hypixel's 'BedWars' gamemode, and is known mostly for his highest positions on the the solo leaderboards. Purpled possesses skill in speed bridging and also previously hosted a 1v1 tournament event on the gamemode.
The outlet further reported that the gamer was inspired to start uploading YouTube videos by a fellow former BedWars player and YouTuber, Secret_Fish, following their encounter during a Solo BedWars game.
In July last year Purpled officially rebranded his second YouTube channel Burpled to PurpledLIVE, while adding a completely new channel PurpledVODs, in order to showcase stream highlights and Twitch VODs for viewers who cannot watch his full streams, according to the outlet.
What Did Charles Write About Purpled?
The controversy involving Charles and Purpled started after Charles uploaded an Instagram story tagging Purpled. Stating that he was prepping for a glam session, Charles wrote that watching Purpled keeps him entertained. "About to get glam ft @realpurpled playing bedwars to keep me entertained," the makeup and beauty influencer captioned the pic which showed Charles watching Purpled's live stream. However, the story was removed following the uproar.
James Charles was one of the top trending topics on Twitter following the backlash. "James Charles, i may be a purpled hater, but get yo bitchass out of here and away from lil purp and the rest of the gang," wrote a user.
"Forget being a girlboss. I'm gatekeeper. Gatekeeping purpled bedwars from james Charles hell no," tweeted one as another user wrote, "james charles , grooming ment. why r ppl so angry abt ppl being uncomfortable w/ him watching purpled?? he literally groomed SEVERAL minors that r in his age range."
