Beauty influencer James Charles has apologised after a viral video in which he mocked a former Spirit Airlines employee who asked 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, leaving over 17,000 people unemployed. She had included a link to a GoFundMe page, asking for donations. Charles responded by laughing and suggesting she should “get another job” instead of asking influencers for money.
He called her a “lazy piece of s***” and accused her of entitlement, saying she could have used the time to apply for jobs. The video sparked outrage online, with many calling Charles out of touch and privileged.
Charles later issued a shirtless apology on TikTok, describing his own behaviour as “stupid”, “unnecessary”, and “privileged”. He acknowledged he could have ignored the message and said he felt awful for shaming someone who was clearly struggling. He specifically apologised to the woman from Spirit Airlines.
