Mugshot madness! Mega beauty influencer James Charles is getting serious heat after participating in the viral — and controversial — #mugshotchallenge on social media.
The problematic trend has been especially popular amongst makeup artists and influencers on TikTok. Users purposely look bruised, bloodied, or just plain rough before taking a fake “mugshot” to entertain their followers.
The 20-year-old makeup artist took to Twitter on Monday, April 6, to share two mugshot-inspired photographs on Twitter and Instagram.
Charles leveraged his expert makeup skills to make it look like he had a bloody nose and a bruised eye in his pics.
Many social media users had negative responses to Charles’ post. Even though the beauty lover wasn’t the first to get involved in the challenge, his photos — like everyone else — still glamorize domestic abuse.
One tweeted, “I don’t understand why this would be a trend. I love James but it’s not fun having your face bruised and not being able to cover them up. Maybe I’m being too sensitive but this made me feel really uncomfortable because I couldn’t take mine off. It made me feel so dehumanized.”
The YouTuber has since deleted photos from the challenge on Twitter, but they remain on his Instagram feed with the caption, “mugshot.”
Charles addressed the situation on Twitter, saying, “Despite the fact that hundreds of other influencers and artists have done something similar, I deleted the mugshot trend because it was never my intention to trigger anyone & it’s a waste of time trying to have an open discussion with people who hate me regardless ✌🏼.”
A Twitter user came at him, saying, “Boy you don’t have to apologize for everything.” Charles responded, “this is not an apology lol.”
Another person told Charles that it’s less about him and more about the problematic social media challenge. “Not everyone who was uncomfortable with the picture hates you, it’s the whole trend that doesn’t sit right with a lot of people.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
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