Analysis
A Cosmopolitan James Charles profile went viral this weekend, with many readers and historians of YouTube’s 2018 beauty era astonished by the piece. With the tone-deaf title, “James Charles Would Like to Be Un-Canceled, Please,” the legacy media outlet sat down with the makeup guru, who has admitted to sending sexual messages to underage fans, for an interview and a lavish photoshoot as he gets ready to launch a new line of body paint.
“This very interview is to be a trial balloon, its reception the answer to the question both of us—and maybe you, too, if what auto-populates in Google Search can be believed—are here to ask: ‘Is James Charles still canceled,’” the piece said.
Judging from the web’s retching response, I think the balloon may have already popped.
There’s a lot in this Cosmopolitan James Charles story that has nothing to do with paint. The article admits Charles’ team only granted Cosmopolitan access to an interview in order to promote this new body paint line. The result is an extremely sympathetic tone, promoting the brand multiple times while weaving in information about the very serious allegations against Charles.
Despite being somewhat self-aware about this exchange for access, the article largely downplays Charles’ behavior and the power dynamics he abused. It touts that “Charles says he recognizes the power imbalance at play in his interactions online” despite not admitting to being a “pedophile” or “groomer.” It’s got the same energy as he’s reawwy sowwy he texted underage boys, uwu.
The tone, pictures, and headline paint a narrative levity when in reality, the allegations against Charles are incredibly disturbing. …
