Among the many accusations that James Charles has been forced to defend himself against in recent months, the most disturbing were those of sexual harassment and coercion — in particular, a story of a heterosexual waiter whom Tati Westbrook accused Charles of manipulating into a slew of rather inappropriate interactions. That waiter's name, in case you forgot, is Sam Cooke.
However, when Charles followed up with receipts debunking that story, and people like Jeffree Star came out and apologized for their commentary, people just seemed to forget about it all. But Cooke isn't letting us forget; last night he issued a public apology through a now-deleted YouTube video.
Ugh, make it stop.
In a now-deleted video, that infamous waiter from the James Charles drama apologized.
Because is beauty YouTuber drama really ever over? Apparently not. In what seems a bit random and late, Cooke issued a public apology to Charles. He explained his experiences and said that the makeup master never forced him into anything, as was previously reported. And though he quickly took the video down, drama YouTuber Rich Lux was just as quick to save and upload it to his own channel.
However, instead of people feeling sympathy, they're really just confused. Why now?
Cooke's video felt very forced to viewers.
"I myself felt uncomfortable watching cause he looks like he's reading a script," one Reddit user said of the debacle. "If James was behind all this, he should just let it go. The drama happened 80 internet years ago and people have kinda forgotten."
In fact, some fans think Charles may have put Cooke up to this.
"James said on an instastory yesterday that he's filming a youtube video that might say what's been happening since No More Lies. Inference is, it's smoked sam out. I'm kinda afraid of JC opening the dramageddon can of worms again, the whole situation is so ugly. This weird [expletive] apology raises a lot of questions and makes me worry about how things have been behind the scenes. I don't like the community being dragged around with drama tit-bits," someone commented.
And though the apology video was deleted, Cooke left it up just long enough to catch some buzz, fueling the belief he did it for the clout.
"But it was up long enough for someone to record it and pass it to the drama channels. Thats all it needs. Hardly anyone is subbed to Sam. However like others has mentioned, this video is of no benefit to James so would not surprise me if he was told to pull it down," someone on Reddit theorized.
Cooke said that it was his family and friends who insisted that he entertain the drama.
"The detail he mentioned about feeling like he had to go along with it because James spent $500 on a separate hotel room so he felt obligated… honestly this detail makes me feel kind of sorry for both involved here," one curious Redditor posted.
"For Sam, I understand the pressure of feeling financially obligated to someone, and when I was his age I remember I went along with similar stuff for way less [expletive], a dude brought me cheap supermarket bought flowers on a first date and it made me feel like I had to agree to a second even though I wasn't feeling it). But for James, the detail that the hotel room was separate makes me feel like he was trying to keep the pressure off here, trying to give Sam the opportunity to leave and go back to his own space without worries about having nowhere to sleep if he needed to. It seems like a well-meaning, kind thing to do that had unfortunate side effects that weren't really the fault of either party.
As for the rest of it, if that's all true this time then Sam really needs to grow a spine and start standing up to what his family and friends tell him to do. You can't let people control your entire life like that," they concluded.
However, people are still convinced that Charles used his power to manipulate the situation.
"I agree that James does need to be more mindful of his power, wealth and celebrity, but at the same time I do somewhat question what the alternative could have been here. If I fly someone out to spend time with me, and we're not in a relationship, it seems to me that the most considerate thing to do would be to get them their own room, so that if they wind up not wanting to share mine they can safely retreat to their own room without worries that they're gonna be out on the street in an unfamiliar place at 2am or whatever. And if I'm the one paying, then I might say, 'OK, I'll get them a nice room then' out of politeness and a desire for them to have somewhere nice to stay," another stated.
There are some who think that maybe Cooke's lawyers came up with the idea.
Though we don't think that's very likely.
"Another theory instead of James making him make this, what if Sam's lawyers made him make this? Maybe things were heating up behind the scenes at the lawyer's office and James was gonna sue, then maybe SAM's lawyers made him put this rushed video out? I'm just saying, I just don't understand why it would be deleted if James' camp made him make it. This is all weird, and died down weeks ago. I'm so sick of seeing Sam's face and hearing about JC drama. Just let it die, James and team, please god," someone begged.
And we share the same sentiments. We're ready for it all to be over, but seeing as Charles teased yet another video, this may just be the start.
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