James Charles Fury: Influencer Called a Laid-off Spirit Airlines Worker a 'Lazy Piece of S***'

James Charles’s attack on a laid-off Spirit Airlines worker and his hurried apology have ignited a wider row over class, power and the limits of influencer 'real talk'. (Credit: Lone Fox, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

James Charles is facing fresh backlash on TikTok after calling a laid-off Spirit Airlines worker a 'lazy piece of s***' in a video posted on 8 May, then briefly doubling down before issuing a public apology later that day.

The 26-year-old beauty influencer had been responding to a direct message from a woman who said she had lost her job when Spirit Airlines shut down and asked him to donate to her GoFundMe. Rather than ignoring the request or replying privately, Charles filmed himself addressing it to his millions of followers, accusing the woman of entitlement and insisting that people lose their jobs 'every f***ing day.'