Beauty influencer and YouTuber James Charles is accused of 'grooming' a teen TikTok user and Sending him nudes on Snapchat despite knowing his age. Charles has denied all the allegations and claimed that the victim told he was 18 years old.
UK's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children defines grooming as building "a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person" in order to "manipulate, exploit and abuse them."
Charles Demanded Nudes from Teen Influencer
The allegations against Charles were made by a 16-year-old Isaiyah, a self-proclaimed fashion model. Sharing his ordeal with his followers, Isaiyah posted a two part video on TikTok and later shared screenshots of his conversation with Charles on Twitter.
Recalling the moment Charles added him on Snapchat, Isaiyah said that he got pretty excited as Charles was his "biggest influence -- influencer wise and I have always looked up to him."
"I went into the bathroom and I guess he saw the bathroom light so he started to make the conversation very sexual and made me really uncomfortable," Isaiyah said.
Claiming that the YouTuber was pleasuring himself as he asked for his nudes, Isaiyah shared a screenshot of a video where there is a superimposed text that reads, "Send me a vid where u like put your phone down in the shower and record hands free u flexing and showing off ur muscles and hair hehe". The subsequent video text reads: "I bet you can make me finish by just flexing and showing off your hair (body hair) haha without even taking your d!ck out."
Charles Claims He Wasn't Aware About the Victim's Age
In a public statement issued, the YouTuber, who has over 25 million subscribers, denied being a 'groomer'. Claiming that the accuser had sent him "lewd photos of himself in the shower" and claimed to be 18, Charles said he "flirted" back.
"The accusation that I have groomed this person is completely false," he wrote. "Last week, I came across someone on my Instagram explore page, saw he followed me, and added him on Snapchat. The next morning, I woke up to several snaps from this person being excited I added him back, saying [they] loved me and [they] told me [they were] 18 so I started flirting back."
"In this excitement of meeting someone I thought could be potentially great, I didn't ask for a copy of [their] ID or passport. It's now clear, based on the video [they] uploaded, [they were] taking photos of me with another device, and had an ulterior motive from the beginning," said the beauty guru add that he unfriended him after Isaiyah revealed he was 16.
