After facing scrutiny online, James Charles has spoken.
The 20-year-old came under fire on social media after posting his version of the "Mugshot Challenge," a current viral trend where people style themselves in a photo as if they were taking a mugshot. In the images the YouTube star posted online, his makeup evoked bruised eyes and a bloody nose as he stared into the camera and off to the side.
However, not everyone was pleased with Charles' latest project. "I don't understand why this would be a trend. I love James but it's not fun having your face bruised and not being able to cover them up. Maybe I'm being too sensitive but this made me feel really uncomfortable because I couldn't take mine off. It made me feel so dehumanized," one person tweeted, to which Charles replied, "Hi babe, I'm so sorry that you went through something so awful and traumatic. it's a tik tok trend going around where people post their 'mugshots' and has nothing to do with domestic violence whatsoever. love you."
"I don't think it's just you, it's the trend itself that's triggering for many," another tweet explained.
"I do understand that but this dumb trend has nothing to do with domestic abuse. what about action movies? halloween? special effects? simple bloody noses? this is nothing new," he responded.
Ultimately, Charles deleted the images altogether. As he explained in a tweet, "Despite the fact that hundreds of other influencers and artists have done something similar, I deleted the mugshot trend because it was never my intention to trigger anyone & it's a waste of time trying to have an open discussion with people who hate me regardless."
But, don't mistake it for an apology. When someone tweeted back, "Boy you don't have to apologize for everything get some balls!!!" the Internet personality added, "This is not an apology lol."