When YouTube beauty vlogger James Charles was publicly criticized and condemned by a former friend and mentor, Tati Westbrook, Charles released a response video admitting to and apologizing for some of the more vague aspects of the charges against him. The apology video, released amid a mass unfollowing and unsubscribing of Charles’ followers on YouTube and Instagram, backfired immensely as it received nearly no positive reviews or reactions by fellow media figures and the watching public alike. The most common criticism of Charles’ response video was its apparent insincerity showcased not only by the lack of specific addressing to the most cruel and offensive claims that Tati made about him in her original video, but for its seeming “paint by numbers” approach to what is now an often mocked trope called “The YouTube Apology Video”.
Below, a body language expert points out several manifestations of these insincerity “tells” present in James Charles’ movements, tone, and expression in the now infamous video.
