James Charles is responding to allegations that he "groomed" an underage boy. On Friday, a TikTok user, who claims he's 16, shared a since-deleted video where he accuses Charles of sending him sexually-explicit messages and photos on Snapchat. The beauty YouTuber then took to social media to deny the accusations.
"There's a video going around about me on TikTok and Twitter of a day calling me a groomer and I want to address it right away," Charles began, adding that the accusation that he has "groomed this person is completely false."
He explains that he saw someone on his Instagram explore page that follows him and added him on Snapchat. "The next morning, I woke up to several snap from this person being excited I added him back, saying he loved me, and also lewd photos of himself in the shower," he alleges, claiming that he asked how old the person way and that "he told me he was 18 so I started flirting back."
According to multiple reports, in the since-deleted video, the teen accused Charles of turning their conversation "very sexual" and began to get uncomfortable before allegedly revealing he was 16.
In his statement, Charles notes that he didn't ask for a copy of the teen's ID to make sure he was 18, but now "based on the video he uploaded, he was taking photos of me with another device and had an ulterior motive from the beginning," he writes.
He admits that he later found out the person was 16 years old and claims that he apologized, was uncomfortable and unfriended him. "We haven't spoken since," he notes, writing that he's not victim-blaming but sharing his side of the story.
Charles states that he "would never knowingly engage with anyone underage and put my life on the line for a few snapchats."
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