Instagram: jamescharlesUsers are mass-unfollowing James Charles on TikTok, but many are left wondering why his follower count is dropping so fast. Here’s everything we know.
Since launching his YouTube channel in 2015, James Charles has skyrocketed in popularity to become one of the top beauty-focused content creators online.
He sports a massive 40M followers on TikTok with another 24M on YouTube where he receives hundreds of thousands of views on each video.
In May 2025, however, James started losing followers on TikTok en masse, leaving many people wondering what was going on. Here’s everything we know about why people are mass-unfollowing the creator.
James Charles’ TikTok follower count is dropping fast
In April 2025, Charles faced allegations of entering into a romantic relationship with fellow influencer Evan Johnson after he was charged with domestic assault against his ex-girlfriend Kayla.
TikToker Mikaela Testa went viral with the claims on April 30, sparking backlash against Charles in the process.
“Just letting everyone in Australia know that James Charles is sleeping with Evan Johnson,” she claimed. “The one that broke Kayla’s jaw and badly beat and bruised her. The one who was in prison. James Charles has been housing this motherf**ker to sleep with him.”
Shortly after her video went viral, users began mass-unfollowing James Charles on TikTok. According to SocialBlade, James has lost 700,000 followers on TikTok at the time of writing and is still bleeding them rapidly.
The mass unfollowing seems to be specifically targeting his TikTok page, as Charles’ YouTube has yet to be affected by the trend.
James Charles responds to backlash
After days of losing followers on TikTok, James Charles uploaded a video making it clear that he doesn’t support Evan Johnson like others have alleged.
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“I do not support Evan Johnson in any way, shape, or form, let me make that f**king clear,” he said. “I do not support him, I do not support violence against women, and I sure as hell don’t support the disgusting, deplorable, and violent acts that he committed against Kayla behind closed doors.
“At the same time, the videos I’m currently seeing all over my FYP are disturbing. This is not TikTok drama, this is real people dealing with really serious sh*t. I am suing Zach Sellers and anybody else who thinks it’s funny to get online and spread defamatory lies, misinformation, and completely made-up stories for the sake of views.”
Charles went on to show a conversation he had with Kayla, where he jokingly commented on “having” Evan Johnson after they broke up. He says, however, that he “didn’t think anything of it” and was just making a joke.
This isn’t the first time someone has been mass-unfollowed on TikTok. Back in December 2024, users flocked to Vexbolts’s account to “leave him in 2024.”
