Happy Monday! 

I’m a bit under the weather today so I’m keeping it brief. If you’re curious what’s on my sick day activity list, this is what I’ve been consuming while Dayquilmaxxing:

Today, we’re talking about James Charles’ latest drama, which proves to many that he has changed very little in the years since Dramageddon 2.0.

James Charles just had his mama let’s research moment.

The ever-controversial beauty influencer has gotten himself in a bit of hot water after willingly posting a video yelling at a former Spirit Airlines employee who DM’d him asking for financial assistance. 

The woman had shared a link to her GoFundMe to help get back on her feet after the budget airline went bust. James Charles proceeded to make a now-deleted video calling her a “lazy piece of shit” and “entitled.” He also admonished her for not following him or being a supporter. 

“You are in a much better position than all of the other people out here who are working, clearly, much harder to make a better life for themselves. Why would I fucking help you?” he yelled into the camera. “Aside from that, 17,000 people lost their jobs at Spirit Airlines. Why do you think you need the GoFundMe? I could at least, like 1%, respect the mentality of ‘Closed mouths don’t get fed, doesn’t hurt to try.’ But honestly it does hurt to try because you pissed me off.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the job market is really bad right now. Like, really bad. So, it’s not as easy, as James Charles said, “to go find a fucking new one.”

We talked about this issue here the other week, including how the lack of employment opportunities has been pushing people to take desperate measures to make money. Gallup released a poll today showing that young Americans (aged 15 to 34) are increasingly pessimistic about the current job market. Needless to say, people did not take James Charles’ comments well. 

Not to mention, people have been asking celebrities for money for as long as celebrities have been on social media. It’s often a Hail Mary, considering famous people 1) are not always that rich and 2) simply can’t help everyone. There is a shared understanding that celebs don’t have to respond, but sometimes—if you’re lucky—they'll hook you up. And then, there are even rarer moments when they have the balls to call you poor and entitled to your face.

One of these moments includes when Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez responded to a struggling young woman asking for college tuition assistance with, “Have you looked into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund? There’s a few places to look for help mama lets research.” That happened in 2016 and spawned so many memes that she later corrected her sins by starting her own scholarship two years later. 

In the decade since “mama let’s research,” young people have gone through a tidal wave of socially and economically devastating events, from a pandemic to wars. It’s getting harder and more expensive to live, leading to this rise in financial nihilism. In the same decade, James Charles has built a singular—and frankly, lucky—career in influencing, beginning when he was a teenager. So, as his peer in the beauty space Jackie Asamoah (née Aina) pointed out, he has never had to actually find a “normal” job.

“To never have to have entered the workplace yourself and to say something like this takes an insane amount of privilege,” she said. “It’s just literally oozing from this video.”

James Charles backtracked and apologized… kind of. He admitted that his video was stupid and rude. He was frustrated by people viewing him as a “personal ATM.” He also said he tried to find the woman’s GoFundMe again to help her but that he couldn’t find it.

The apology rang hollow for many people, especially since he ended the video saying, “I really need to think twice before I hit record and just start yapping on this account. I genuinely treat this spam page like I’m on FaceTime with you guys. I love to laugh and tell you stories and rant and scream at the camera and joke around with y’all. But sometimes I genuinely forget how many people are watching.” (This was also allegedly his second attempt at apologizing after doubling down in a now-deleted first try.)

We’ve heard similar excuses from James Charles about his lapses of judgment from his various past controversies. As a result, commenters were quite critical of his response. 

This latest backlash also happened to fall near the seven-year anniversary of Dramageddon 2.0—the literal internet-changing dispute between James Charles and Tati Westbrook—leading some people to believe that he has not changed after enduring scandal after scandal.

Jackie Aina even noted in her video criticizing James Charles, “What’s particularly annoying about this is that I know ain’t nothing gonna happen.”

“I’m not saying I want something to happen,” she continued. “All I’m saying is that, as a white man, you can turn on your camera, talk absolutely crazy out the side of your neck, and it’s going to warrant zero consequences for you.”

I think this is true, as we’ve discussed time and again how cancellation is not a death sentence for influencers—but a career revival. However, I do think this moment affirms my belief that people are getting sick of snarky, cruel energy online. The world is tough enough, so it’s no wonder that folks are tired of influencers and brands trying to get a cheap laugh or like from being mean to a stranger. 

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. Today, a playlist of fruity tracks (literally).

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.