\n<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n James Charles<\/strong><\/a> is apologizing again for his Spirit Airlines employee rant that went extremely viral on social media, and launching a new initiative in response to the backlash.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old influencer shared an over 7-minute Tikok video over the weekend addressing the situation.<\/p>\n If you didn\u2019t know,\u00a0James<\/strong>\u00a0made an\u00a0angry, since-deleted TikTok<\/a>\u00a0video claiming that a woman who lost her job at Spirit Airlines reached out in his DMs with a link to her GoFundMe, calling her \u201ca lazy piece of s\u2013t\u201d for asking for money. He then uploaded\u00a0an initial apology video<\/a> amid backlash. The woman he allegedly called out then shared his alleged response<\/a> to her DM asking for help.<\/p>\n \u201cThe video that I posted two weeks ago now about the Spirit Airline situation was awful. That video was terrible. It was nasty, it was disrespectful, it was completely unnecessary, and seeing clips of it all over my for you page is embarrassing to say the least. There is no excuse for making that video, so I\u2019m not gonna sit down today and try to give you one. I f\u2013ked up. Point Blank, period,\u201d he began, going on to say that he posted the video on his spam account, as opposed to his main channel.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be completely honest with you, I don\u2019t know what I was going through that day that led to me or allowed me to be so triggered by an individual one-off message like that. And I really don\u2019t know what the hell went through my head to think it was appropriate in any way, shape or form to make a piece of content about somebody reaching out asking for a helping hand at a vulnerable time. The intention behind that video was not to accuse anybody unemployed of being lazy and It was also not to accuse any hard working people of not working hard enough, but that is how the video came across and I feel f\u2013king terrible for contributing to those narratives,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that when I post this video today, there will probably come to people saying you know, James<\/strong>, you\u2019re only making this response because of the backlash. And I want you to know that is true,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first posted this video, clearly I didn\u2019t see a problem with it. It embarrassingly did take people making videos and me getting hate comments and backlash to actually take a step back, put myself in check, and realize what I said here is not okay. And now I need to educate myself as to why. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been working on doing over the last two weeks.\u201d \u2013 James Charles<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n James <\/strong>went on to say that he was able to send a private apology to the Spirit Airlines worker and donate to her and other employees\u2019 GoFundMes affected by the company\u2019s bankruptcy.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, I\u2019m well aware that an apology video and a couple of donations from my couch in L. A. are not enough. In the initial video I made a comment of like \u2018welcome to the real world, why don\u2019t you just go get another job?\u2019 And I now realize that is literally just not possible. I knew that the economy and the job market weren\u2019t great, but I\u2019m ashamed to admit my level of ignorance when it came to how bad it actually was. But now I\u2019m definitely more in the loop the last two weeks have been spent having a lot of conversations and listening to people, whether it was a supporter, a non supporter, a mean message, a nice message. I have just been reading and taking in as many stories as I possibly can to better understand what it is actually like living in the real world,\u201d James<\/strong> explained.<\/p>\n He went on to explain what he\u2019s learned in the last two weeks about the difficulties of finding a job in the current economy, as well as acknowledging his privilege as an influencer.<\/p>\n \u201cI have such a blessed job to be able to make videos online and teach people how to do makeup. Clearly I have lost touch with the amount of privilege that it is to be able to do this for a living and I\u2019m really embarrassed by that and obviously need to come back down to Earth and do my best to use my platform for the right reasons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n James<\/strong> then went on to explain that he\u2019s launching a new initiative under his company, called the Painted Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the brand new organization I\u2019m working on building with my team. With an initial personal contribution of $250,000, every single cent of that is going to go directly towards helping people in need that have been affected by a crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI will be transparent and say that launching something like this is not fast and it\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s gonna be a multi=year thing that I\u2019m Rreally looking forward to putting my all into,\u201d he said, describing the three phases in detail, including emergency relief funding. working with local organizations on the ground, and then scholarships and tuitions towards creative education programs. <\/p>\n \u201cI do wanna make it really clear that I know launching this right now is probably gonna look just as performative as making an apology video or sending out donations, and I have to be okay with that. I know that I can\u2019t undo my video or erase the impact of the words that I chose to say. That\u2019s my own fault. But I hope that by launching this, I can at least show you guys I\u2019m listening, I\u2019m learning, and I really want to use my platform in the best way that I possibly can,\u201d James <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanna say a massive thank you to anybody that\u2019s reached out over the course of the last two weeks to be vulnerable and share their story with me. I clearly needed a massive reality check, and speaking to you guys has really helped with that. And I also wanna say thank you to anybody that\u2019s taken the time to watch this video all the way through. I\u2019ll be in touch soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch James Charles<\/strong>\u2018 full apology video above, and find out which other influencer recently said she \u201chates\u201d him.<\/a><\/p>\n Posted To:News<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nJames Charles says the original video was \u201cawful\u201d<\/h3>\n
He admits backlash changed his perspective<\/h3>\n
\n
James Charles says he privately apologized and donated<\/h3>\n
He is now launching a new initiative<\/h3>\n