The former Spirit Airlines employee who was verbally attacked in a viral video by popular beauty influencer James Charles has refused to accept his apology.
Charles has faced intense public scrutiny this week after posting an inflammatory video that caused him to hemorrhage followers. The 26-year-old influencer went viral for posting a video slamming a Spirit Airlines worker who reached out to him for help after losing her job when the company shut down following a bankruptcy filing.
Since his followers started jumping ship en masse, Charles deleted the original video and posted an apology. However, according to the Spirit Airlines employee at the center of the controversy, it was too little, too late. Her response to whether or not she accepts his apology was simple: "Hell no."
What did James Charles say about the Spirit Airlines worker?
Charles, a beauty influencer who amassed over 83.7 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, found himself in hot water earlier this week. He posted a video mocking a woman who had sent him a DM requesting donations to her GoFundMe since she lost her job after Spirit Airlines went out of business.
The video was criticized as "tone deaf" and "unnecessarily mean," for calling the woman "a lazy piece of shit" and "entitled" because she asked for money when she should "getting another job."
Charles deleted the video after it went viral, but it has continued to spread like wildfire online where it has been reposted by other creators. By Monday, May 11, Charles had already lost more than 130,000 followers and that number has just continued to grow. As of May 15, more than 450,000 people have stopped following him, according to Social Blade, a website that tracks profile statistics across different social media platforms.
Did James Charles apologize?
@jamescharleslol responding to the deleted spirit airlines video ❤️
After being called out by followers and fellow creators like beauty influencer Jackie Aina Asamoah, Charles posted an apology where he admitted that his original video was "fucking stupid," calling it "rude, obnoxious, privileged, and most importantly, it was completely fucking unnecessary."
In his apology video that already has more than 9 million views, Charles said the reason he was frustrated by the Spirit Airlines worker asking for help is that he feels people who’ve never supported him or followed him tend to treat him like "oersonal ATM."
This isn't the first time Charles has had to apologize after being embroiled in a controversy. He also apologized after he was accused of sending inappropriate, sexually explicit messages to minors who he solicited for nudes.
How did the Spirit Airlines worker respond?
Amber Lendof Vargas, the Spirit Airlines worker Charles called out and insulted in his original video, made a response of her own after seeing the beauty influencer’s apology.
In a three-part TikTok series, Vargas (@a_rbmaa), responded to the public outcry, questions she’s gotten from people, and Charles sending her a private apology.
Vargas showed a screenshot of a DM she says is from Charles, where he said he was "sorry for adding to what was already a distressing time" and that he is "ashamed" of how he behaved. He also told her that he donated to her GoFundMe and that "there is no excuse for me yelling at and berating someone for asking for help in a shitty situation that was completely out of your control."
But Vargas said that this personal apology didn’t sway her sway her. "I don’t accept his apology, especially because he was very public with what he said, and then you thought it was okay to message me privately," she said in her video.
Vargas said she has been getting requests to respond to Charles, but hadn’t until now because of "really bad anxiety" and she was waiting for her TikTok account to be monetized so she could make money from the videos.
Vargas also said that she has no plans to sue Charles and expressed her gratitude that "the internet, and all of you guys, have been able to turn this negative situation into a positive situation and not only that but bring awareness to the world and get other people also donating," including Charles who she admitted has also donated to other employees who have also lost their jobs.
Vargas’ GoFundMe has already raised a little over $40,000 toward her $60,000 goal.
