Out Beauty Influencer James Charles Seeks to Move Past 'Groomer' Accusations, Launch Makeup Line

YouTube star and makeup influencer James Charles, seeking life after disgrace (and a career resurrection), is launching his own line of beauty products, Just Jared reports.

But one huge hurdle he needs to clear are the accusations from more than two years ago that he was a "groomer" who had inappropriate communication with underage boys.

Cosmopolitan made that the crux of a new profile piece on the influencer and his new venture.

As previously reported, Charles, 24, had faced accusations of sexually inappropriate texting with several male minors ranging in age from 15 to 17. At least one of the minors claimed that he and Charles had exchanged explicit photos. Charles claimed that he had asked the boys their ages and been told they were 18, but at least one of the boys alleged that Charles knew his was underage.

In the wake of the scandal, in 2021, Charles took to YouTube with a 14-minute video in which he apologized and took responsibility. "These conversations should have never happened, period," Charles said, before adding, "As an adult, it is my and my responsibility to verify who I'm talking to, and therefore there is no one to blame for this other than myself."

The apology did not restore Charles to good standing, though, and he faced catastrophic professional consequences. "His YouTube page was demonetized, he did not return as the host of 'Instant Influencer,' and his other business ventures languished," Cosmo recalled. "He and Morphe, an influencer-focused beauty brand with which he'd partnered on an eyeshadow palette and brushes, cut ties." His financial losses, Cosmo said, are thought to be "in the millions," and the allegations led to an estrangement between Charles and his younger brother.

Now, Charles is seeking a comeback in a big way, with the launch of a makeup line called Paint.

"This line is fully self-funded," Charles told Cosmopolitan. "Every single dollar that has gone into the brand has been from my personal savings and checking accounts," Charles added. "I have no investors, no partners, no billion-dollar backers behind me."

Questions of finance aside, the profile's main theme was whether Charles could leave the many minor – as well as the major – scandals behind him and come in from the cold. In the Cosmopolitan piece, which purported to be a "test balloon" on the question of whether he could now be "uncanceled," the magazine's writer mused that "the general consensus" of "friends and colleagues" boiled down to, "he had done something bad, but no one was clear on exactly what."

Charles' feuds and mini-scandals "seemed to ultimately earn him one thing: more followers," Cosmopolitan noted. "At his peak, Charles had nearly 26 million YouTube subscribers, on top of tens of millions more on TikTok and Instagram." Then came allegations of "grooming" and Charles' mea culpa.

Charles spoke at length about the scandal and its aftermath, and reiterated to Cosmopolitan that he didn't know the true age of the individual to whom he allegedly sent explicit photos. "I've never been more disgusted in my life than when I found out that that kid was 16 years old," he told the interviewer. "I was mortified, absolutely mortified."

A cavalcade of allegations about inappropriate text messages involving Charles followed that claim, Cosmopolitan recalled, but while some assertions seemed "serious," others "felt muddier," the article detailed. The author of the piece noted that the magazine "could not independently verify these messages, many of which have since been deleted."

Further casting uncertainty on the blizzard of claims was a message to Cosmo from a "former accuser" who told the magazine he had "already privately apologized to Charles a few months ago for 'telling him I was 18 a few years ago & the TikTok I made that blew the situation up' " – a claim that Charles' people collaborated.

Charles took on the loaded – and, in anti-LGBTQ+ circles, frequently hurled – term "grooming," telling Cosmo that the "buzzword" has lost its meaning and doesn't apply to anything he did.

"The conversation lasted one hour," Charles told the magazine about what Cosmo called "the first allegation against him."

"I don't know this person; I've never met this person," Charles added. "Nothing happened between me and this actual person, so to use that word is so categorically incorrect."

The article did describe the upcoming makeup line (paint-like products that "are made from a 'wet lipstick-esque' formula that dries matte"), but the makeup line seemed almost an afterthought. Cosmo noted of the disgraced influencer that, "More than anything, Charles seems focused on his goal, which is, really, to reclaim his spot in the cultural mainstream."

"I see a lot of people saying, 'Oh my god, nothing even happened to him, he got away from this scot-free with no sort of repercussions,' " Charles told Cosmo. "That is so far from the truth. It certainly wasn't an overnight thing where now I'm slaying again."

"But he is trying," Cosmo reported. "Hard."