What a difference 10 days in South Africa makes.
Last month,CoverGirls’ first ever “Cover Boy,” 17-year-old James Charles, made everyone cringe when he fired off a racist tweet joking about Africa being a disease-ridden place where he may catch Ebola:
Not only was the tweet not funny, but it was factually inaccurate. In January, the World Health Organization said the continent of Africa was now clear of Ebola.
Charles issued a quick, half-hearted apology saying he “felt like sh*t” for the tweet before disappearing from social media.
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Now, he’s back! And he says he’s a changed man.
Related: CoverGirl’s new cover boy fires off racist tweet and bizarre apology
In an Instagram post published Tuesday, Charles said he spent the last 10 days traveling across South Africa where he met with local students and learned about their culture.
“Learning about the school system, education and their everyday lives was eye opening,” he wrote. “After touring the campus, I sat down with a large group of kids and talked to them about my ignorant comment which degraded their continent.”
“Being able to talk to these kids about my mistake taught me an important lesson about privilege, something that has always been a concept I didn’t fully understand.”
“Through speaking with them, I became aware of the potential impact I may have–both positive and negative. I don’t want to be someone who takes advantage of this privilege.”
We’re glad it was an educational experience for him.
Check out the full post…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BREnmLUhtg4/?taken-by=jamescharles
1EqualityUSA
I hope the youngster will consider going to college. He sounds as though he has potential. Good luck.
scotty
proving yet again that 17 year old boys dont know shit and the ones that get paid to look good just ought to stfu. children should be seen and not heard (or allowed to use elctronics)
olfwob
South africa? Ebola? What is he talking about?
SteverB1
Did he make everything about himself in this? He wasted the time of students in South Africa talking about some crap he posted on Twitter? Whatevs.
tgklondon
Covergirl should take a closer look before using people like this as ambassadors for their products….dumb dumb dumb
JerseyMike
17 year olds make dumb comments.. When you know better you should do better. I think he will do better.
Terrycloth
What do you expect from a boy who puts his eyebrows on with a magic marker ?
He should make no text, tweets or any other forum without agent consent. Everything he does or says reflects on covergirl….he’s young 17 ? Do sent think first. .careful ..or that job might go away really quick
Terrycloth
What the hell queerty ..I post a comment.
I see it posted .check back later it’s gonew…
Why post
brew2431
Good for him, I’ll give him the benefit of doubt. As for some of the commenters, careful of the pedestal on which you’ve perched yourself.
Chris
Young people say and do dumb stuff. He’s following in the foot steps of quite a few tennis players (Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi), entertainers (Justin Beiber), and others who grew up (hopefully, will grow up) to be pretty decent people. Give the kid a break. ….. And yes, learning is all about the person who is learning. I am sure that the people he interacted with personalized what they took away from their interactions.
Jack Meoff
These kids that have their own youtube channels and Instagram followings full of sycophantic followers telling them how awesome they are have a somewhat altered grasp on the real world.
imaqt2
I think it’s funny how the old gays love to criticize the young ones because they forgot what it’s like to be 17…. 17 people get a grip. Not only 17 but also growing up in a completely different world you did. He was joking, acting ignorant on purpose for a laugh. Very much in the way mean girls or SNL would playful joke. Obviously being a “celebrity” he should of thought this through but his Twitter is full of immature comments and racial offenses just like a lot of 17 year old twitters are.
woodin
@imaqt2, the expectation is high that when a company picks a representative that they did there due diligence and selected someone of integrity and maturity. Who needs Justin Bieber kind of antics and immaturity. There are only so many free passes to go around for the jerk crowd.