James Charles is one of YouTube’s top beauty gurus, boasting over 16 million subscribers and a makeup product empire – but his video-making days were suddenly cut short on November 5 in a confusing accident.
While James Charles’ YouTube channel has seen its ups and downs in recent months (paging Tati Westbrook), it was deleted altogether in the middle of the day on November 5.
Fans flipped out across the net, sharing screenshots of an error message that read, “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.”
@jamescharles please explain what happened to your channel!! pic.twitter.com/PtqaGPFGR2
— toulousegrande (@godistoulouse_) November 5, 2019
YALL! What the hell happened to @jamescharles YouTube channel? :surprised: #jamescharles pic.twitter.com/oPNsKUwRko
— Ross kane. (@rossthomaskane) November 5, 2019
He wasn’t the only YouTuber affected by the deletion, either: members of FaZe Clan also saw their channels suspended for seemingly no reason, with names like FaZe Rug and FaZe Kay posting their concerns to social media.
“What the hell?” Rug Tweeted. “My YouTube channel got terminated. WTF.”
What the hell. My YouTube channel got terminated. WTF
— Rug (@FaZeRug) November 5, 2019
“MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL GOT DELETED,” FaZe Kay exclaimed in all caps.
MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL GOT DELETED…..
— FaZe Kay (@FaZeKay) November 5, 2019
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However, Charles had a humorously measured response to the drama in comparison, using his classic catchphrase to make a good-natured joke.
“My YouTube channel really said ‘bye sister,’” Charles wrote of the issue.
my youtube channel really said :victory::skin-tone-3::victory::skin-tone-3: bye sister
— James Charles (@jamescharles) November 5, 2019
Not all hope is lost for these YouTubers, though: according to esports analyst Rod “@Slasher” Breslau, these sudden deletions were merely a “bug” on YouTube’s end, and the site will reportedly restore the affected accounts.
YouTube will be restoring all of the channels suspended including FaZe's members and James Charles etc, just a bug on their end
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) November 5, 2019
Charles’ response to the drama follows a major drop in subscribers earlier this year, when drama with fellow YouTuber Tati Westbrook saw the internet turn on him for the worse.
Losing over three million subscribers due to the debacle, it seemed like Charles’ career had taken a major hit – but the YouTube star quickly bounced back after sharing his version of events, and even managed to surpass his 16 million subscriber milestone shortly thereafter.
Charles’ Twitter account was also hacked in late August, with a group of hackers threatening to leak the celeb’s nudes – but his now-infamous response to the threats (including his more recent reaction to the YouTube debacle) shows that he isn’t afraid of what life throws his way.