Thousands of Spirit Airlines workers lost their careers overnight. An apparently-popular influencer named James Charles apparently thought that was the perfect moment to mock one of them for asking for help.
There are plenty of fair criticisms to make about Spirit Airlines and many self-inflicted wounds that led to its demise. But mocking a laid-off Spirit Airlines worker who had just lost her job and was asking for help? That is not edgy nor is it not funny. It is just cruel.
Influencer James Charles (I’ve never heard of him, but apparently he’s another successful Gen Z influencer with millions of followers) is now apologizing after posting a now-deleted TikTok video in which he ridiculed a former Spirit Airlines employee who sent him a GoFundMe link after losing her job when Spirit shutdown. He deleted the video, but nothing is ever fully deleted on the internet and if you want to listen to what he said, cruel as it is, see below:
The woman messaged Charles explaining that she was struggling after Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy and she lost her job. Instead of ignoring the message, donating privately, or responding like a normal human being, Charles turned it into content.
He read her message aloud mockingly, then launched into a rant about why she did not deserve help.
“You think that I’m gonna send you money because you lost your job?!”
He also called her a “lazy piece of sh*t.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…
Spirit’s collapse left thousands of airline employees suddenly out of work. Flight attendants, gate agents, ramp workers, mechanics, crew schedulers, dispatchers, airport staff, and customer service agents did not make the decisions that drove Spirit into bankruptcy. They did not block the JetBlue merger or invade Iran or fail to adapt the business model in response to increased competition. They just showed up to work, even if they should have seen the writing on the wall.
Then, overnight, the airlines stopped flying and many of them were suddenly left to figure out how to they would make ends meet.
Charles apparently saw that and decided the proper response was public humiliation…what kind of a horrible human being does that? Did he really think that would go over well?
James Charles Turned A Plea For Help Into A Shameful Performance
The most obnoxious part of this episode is not that Charles declined to donate. No one is required to give money to a stranger online. GoFundMe links are everywhere, and public figures probably receive endless requests for cash.
Fine. Delete the message and move on.
But that is not what happened. Instead, he took the message, read it to his audience, mocked the woman’s situation, and framed her request as entitlement. He argued that losing a job is part of life and suggested she should simply go get another one…you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps (an aside, this coming from spoiled kid with a surgery-enhanced body who has never had to work a day in his life).
It is not like a Spirit flight attendant can wake up the next morning and instantly slot into the same schedule, pay, benefits, and base at another airline, especially in an industry driven by seniority. Yes, other carriers may hire some of these workers and many will land on their feet, but pretending that a sudden airline shutdown is just a “minor inconvenience” is detached from reality…
The Apology Came After The Backlash
After the video blew up for all the wrong reasons, Charles deleted it and posted an apology. He admitted the video was inappropriate and said he should not have shamed someone who may have been desperate.
“It was obnoxious, and I shamed her for asking for help…”
That is true. It was obnoxious. It was also unnecessary.
The internet does not need another lecture from a wealthy influencer about how working people should respond after losing their jobs. Charles also apologized specifically to the former Spirit employee, saying he was “super sorry.”
Good. He should be. Here it is:
@jamescharleslol
responding to the deleted spirit airlines video ❤️
♬ original sound – James Charles Spam
And may I rather dourly say that as the gap between haves and have-nots continues to grow in this country, the rich better keep their eyes over their shoulders because if a revolution comes, the guillotines will be used for people like Charles first. May that day never happen…
CONCLUSION
James Charles did not cause Spirit Airlines to fail. But his response to one former Spirit worker’s plea for help was a nasty little window into how easily real people become punchlines after corporate collapses. Spirit workers have already had a brutal week. They lost jobs, schedules, benefits, travel privileges, and in many cases a career path they had built over years. They did not need a millionaire influencer turning their desperation into content.
Charles apologized. Fine. But the original instinct says more than the apology. If your instinct is to publicly mock a laid-off airline worker after her company just collapsed, maybe the problem is not her entitlement.
No, it is you, James.
image: @jamescharles / TikTok
Get Daily Updates
Join our mailing list for a daily summary of posts! We never sell your info.
You have Successfully Subscribed!
