Beauty influencer James Charles has apologised after posting a video in which he mocked a former Spirit Airlines worker who asked him for financial help following her redundancy. The 26-year-old faced widespread criticism for the expletive-filled rant, which he later deleted.
In the original video, Charles read out a direct message from a woman who said she had lost her job after Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy last weekend, leaving over 17,000 people unemployed. She shared a GoFundMe link and asked for support. Charles responded by laughing and telling her to 'get another job', calling her a 'lazy piece of s***' and 'entitled'.
The clip quickly drew backlash on social media, with users accusing Charles of being out of touch. One comment on X read: 'Welcome to the real world, yet he doesn't even exist in that world as an influencer. He is so beyond out of touch.'
Charles issued a shirtless apology on TikTok on Saturday, describing his original video as 'stupid', 'rude', 'obnoxious', and 'privileged'. He acknowledged he could have ignored the message and said he felt 'awful' for shaming the woman during a difficult time.
'I shamed her for asking for help in a situation where she was clearly struggling, and this could have been her absolute last resort,' Charles said. He added: 'I'm super sorry, especially to the woman from Spirit Airlines.'
