Late last year Covergirl made headlines when they named James Charles as the new brand ambassador. While it was a step in the right direction, they may have chosen the wrong person to represent such a progressive time in their company. Numerous tweeters said they plan on taking their business elsewhere after the makeup guru posted an ignorant tweet about Africa and Ebola earlier today.
“‘I can’t believe we’re gong to Africa today omg what if we get Ebola?’ ‘James we’re fine we could’ve gotten it at chipotle last year…'” he tweeted.
Screenshots via Affinity Magazine:
People were not happy about the post. “I will no longer support your company as long as he’s on the campaign. This was stereotypical & degrading to Africa,” one user wrote.
The tweet was quickly deleted, but Charles never made a public apology. Instead, he tweeted out a separate message that read, “block and move on james block and move on.” Again, people weren’t having it.
“No no James, listen and learn that comments like that are problematic as hell,” one tweeter wrote, with another adding “sorry that people didn’t find it funny that the only thing people associate with Africa is a deadly disease?”
In response, Charles retweeted with his own comment: “do NOT put words in my mouth holy f*ck I cannot wait to not have cell service for 10 days so I don’t have to deal with Twitter.” Both posts have since been deleted.
Yikes. Here’s hoping Charles apologizes for his remarks and is more mindful in the future.
Update
James Charles posted several tweets apologizing for his earlier comments.
[H/T: Affinity Magazine]
