James Charles apologizes for TikTok rant targeting laid-off Spirit Airlines employee

James Charles shared, then removed, two TikTok videos addressing a former Spirit Airlines employee who messaged him asking for money on GoFundMe after losing her job when the airline went out of business. He followed up with a complete apology in a third video.

Charles reported that the employee sent a message saying they were having a hard time after Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy and they lost their job. The employee also included a link to a GoFundMe campaign.

Charles reacted angrily, calling the woman names and accusing her of being entitled for expecting financial support from influencers and celebrities. He told her to face reality, pointing out that people lose jobs frequently. He quickly removed the video from online platforms.

Charles stands “10 toes down” on his rant

Viewers immediately reacted negatively to the video, criticizing Charles for seeming insensitive and harsh, which led him to release another video.

Okay, so I saw what he said, and he admitted he came off a little strong with his wording – he called it a “harsh choice of words.” But honestly, he’s sticking to his guns on the actual message. He basically said he 100% believes what he said and isn’t backing down at all.

Honestly, I think a lot of people just don’t have that ‘figure it out’ attitude. This woman was sending the same message to tons of celebrities hoping for a job, and I think she’d have been better off actually tailoring each application. Spending the time to customize things would’ve been way more effective than just copy-pasting, you know?

He openly admitted he’s wealthy and disconnected from everyday financial realities. He stated he’ll never pretend to be poor online just to seem more relatable to people.

That video was also deleted.

Charles retracts his previous claims

After facing strong criticism, Charles released one last video where he completely took back everything he had previously said.

Honestly, that video just really bothered me. It felt unnecessarily rude, obnoxious, and showed a real lack of awareness. It just didn’t need to exist, you know?

Honestly, it’s really good to hear him talk about how tough the job market is right now. He even said he’s seen all the awful stories online about companies just completely ignoring applicants – ghosting them, you know? He gets it, and admitted it’s genuinely difficult for people looking for work.

Charles also thought about how he’d achieved success, admitting he wasn’t one to judge others. He pointed out that his own path – creating makeup videos online – had been a bit of a lucky break.

He explained that he’d attempted to find the initial direct message so he could privately apologize and offer the woman financial assistance, but wasn’t successful.

Okay, so Spirit Airlines completely shut down on May 2nd, 2026 – it was crazy to watch! It meant 17,000 people lost their jobs, and I followed the whole thing as it unfolded, kinda like watching a game crash and burn in real-time. We had full coverage of the collapse as it happened.

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2026-05-10 16:19