James Charles who broke boundaries last October by becoming Covergirl’s first male ambassador is now making headlines for a naive comment he made earlier today on twitter. The now since deleted tweet read, “I can’t believe we’re going to Africa today omg what if we get Ebola?”
Twitter quickly popped off, saying they were going to stop supporting Covergirl and berating James for what he said. The reason his tweet is so ridiculous, is because it goes back to the avid stereotype that Africa is an un-industrialized wasteland of naked people and diseases. Which is quite the opposite of the continent, yes there are areas where people do wear less clothing and live in buildings that aren’t as structured as America’s, but that’s their culture! South America, Tanzania, Zimbabwe all have some of the most beautiful architecture and cities in the world. His comment was ignorant and something he needs to forgo if he wants to stay in the limelight.
James just arrived to South Africa a few hours ago and wrote this tweet.
I am extremely sorry. Regardless of my intentions, words have consequences. I take full responsibility and will learn and do better.
— James Charles (@jamescharles) February 16, 2017
Seems pretty inconsiderate right? He quickly realized this and sent another tweet out.
At least he realize he made a mistake. Obviously James is 17 and still has a learning curve to go through, but when you’re an ambassador to one of the biggest brands, you’d think you’d watch what you say a little more carefully.