James Charles, you played yourself with this one.
He literally can’t just say, “thanks for inviting me I had a good time????,” he gotta be all like, “influencers liberated America from British rule...”
— DADDY DeVITO (@dairygergich) May 7, 2019
Inviting Charles to the Met Gala made sense on a few levels. He has celebrity status and fits in with the mold that Wintour has created for the exclusive event. Someone on Twitter questioned why he had to turn this invite into a smug caption.
People can't help but roast his caption.
If you don’t care about influencer representation in the media then your politics are not intersectional!!! pic.twitter.com/8Su2iw4bYm
— Philip Ellis (@Philip_Ellis) May 7, 2019
One person joked that Charles' comment furthered an influencer's intersectional identity. Intersectionality is the idea that one can experience multiple levels of oppression for one's identity.
Social media influencers have an unbelievable amount of presence in the media. And while it's true that the Met Gala has not included these types of celebrities before, it hardly classifies them as a minority.
His comment suggested that he was sparking a change for YouTubers at the Met Gala, but Liza Koshy attended last year.
a whole liza koshy has been a regular attendee idk why he acting like he’s the first .............
— nana w luv ♥ D4 (@G1RLWLUV) May 7, 2019
Some people also question his use of the word "catalyst" because he isn't exactly the first influencer to attend the Gala. Last year, Liza Koshy attended the Met Gala, and this year fellow YouTuber Lilly Singh joined them.
People cannot stop laughing at the ridiculous nature of his caption.
INFLUENCER REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA IS THE FUNNIEST THING I HAVE EVER READ https://t.co/x1gB5mfFPn
— corey kindberg (@coreykindberg) May 7, 2019
His comment came off so smug that it is laughable to some. Unfortunately for Charles his attempt at being a "catalyst" for change was not taken the way he wanted. Few would have questioned his celebrity status and whether or not an influencer deserved to attend the Gala, but many will question his attempt at further "representation" for that group.
The influencer has been asking for messages of positivity following his critiques.
reply to someone on this tweet below & say something nice :) I could use a smile and I’m sure there are a lot of others out there who could too
— James Charles (@jamescharles) May 8, 2019
Charles has experienced criticism many times before, and he has revealed the toll it takes when commenters leave negative messages. He posted a tweet asking his followers to spread positivity. The makeup artist hardly ever shies away from responding to negativity, so it's just a matter of time before he makes a statement about this debacle.
Charles vaguely addressed the drama on his Instagram Story.

"I wanted to say thank you to those of you guys who did leave positive comments on today's new Met Gala video. The reaction is definitely quite split. I knew this was going to happen, though; I talked about it in the video. Anytime anything like this ever happens with an influencer doing something new people tend to be very, very up in arms about it, and I can see why. But regardless it was such a huge honor... and nothing is going to take away from my amazing time that I had."
In true James Charles fashion, he posted a YouTube video following his entire Met Gala journey.
He also posted an entire video documenting his first Gala experience. He touches on the idea of YouTuber representation at the event, with fellow influencers Lilly Singh, Liza Koshy, and model Rosie Huntington-Whitely at the 10:03 mark.
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