Beauty influencer James Charles is apologizing to Alicia Keys after he threw a lil shade following the announcement of her new beauty line.
James Charles sub-tweeted and deleted Alicia, but apparently he wasn’t quick enough as the screenshot of his tweet had already gone viral.
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“People who do not wear makeup should not be coming out with makeup brands but that’s just my opinion,” James tweeted, and even though there was no mention of Alicia in his initial tweet, he later admitted in his apology that he was definitely talking about her.
While some agreed with James, many pointed out that he was misinformed about Alicia’s new business endeavor. Alicia Keys, who publicly denounced wearing makeup a few years back, will partner with e.l.f. Beauty to launch a cruelty-free collection, primarily focusing on skincare.
People criticized James Charles as just another recent example of a celebrity publicly tearing down a black woman. Alicia fans were not here for it either.
James Charles changed his tune, admitting he spoke too soon on the Alicia Keys news following the backlash.
“Yesterday I posted a subtweet about how I thought some celebrities shouldn’t launch makeup lines. It was about @aliciakeys,” James began his apology. “A few years ago, she announced that she no longer would wear makeup, so I was bothered because many celebrities come into the beauty space as a cash grab without any actual passion and then leave.”
James explains he deleted the tweet after a few minutes because he says it was childish and acknowledged that he is not the “gatekeeper” of makeup.
“I’m now glad that I DID delete it because after reading further, I learned that the beauty line is SKINCARE. This was my mistake and I should’ve read more before tweeting…Regardless of my intention with my tweet, it ended up being a microaggression against someone I respect, so to @aliciakeys I owe a direct apology – I’m sorry.”
Alicia has yet to respond to James, but it doesn’t seem likely that she will. As Queen Bey once said, “best revenge is yo paper.”
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