James Charles has broken his social media silence to respond to an ongoing lawsuit from his former video editor and producer. The disgraced online star dubbed the move “blackmail” and said the entire thing is “untrue.”
The internet celebrity has fallen far since taking responsibility for several grooming accusations. He’s lost sponsorships and partnerships, been demonetized on YouTube, and kept a low profile on social media.
However, he finally broke his silence and posted a seven-minute-long video on Twitter on May 10, explaining he feels like he’s being “blackmailed” by Kelly Rocklein, a former employer who is suing him for wrongful termination, poor treatment, and other accusations during her employment.
“For those who are not aware, for the last two years, I’ve been dealing with an ongoing lawsuit from one of my previous employees,” he said. “This is something I’ve never spoken about [and] never mentioned out of respect for her and the fact that it’s literally an ongoing litigation. But she’s now speaking about it.”
“I was filming and editing three videos a week by myself, and I really wanted help, so I hired an editor. This person worked for me and was later promoted to my producer. She was like my right-hand person for a salary of $72,000 a year. She only worked for me for about six months and was let go.”
“Now, I’m being sued. [She] alleges that she was wrongfully terminated, overworked, and underpaid. All of which are untrue.” He insisted his staff have always been “very well taken care of” and claimed she’s after “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
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But although he could pay the “ungodly amount” of settlement money and make the claims “magically go away,” he said, “settling is no longer an option he wants to “pursue [the case] to the fullest extent of the law.”
— James Charles (@jamescharles) May 11, 2021
James wrapped things up by saying that he understands he’ll need to deal with “the court of public opinion” until the case is resolved.
In the meantime, he’ll “wait patiently and come back when the time is right,” presumably once the case has been dealt with.
