If you’ve been keeping up with the drama, you already know about the back-and-forth that’s been going between YouTube star James Charles and his Coachella fling Gage Gomez. Well, now that Gage has accused the makeup artist of manipulating him, James has fired back.
That’s right, you guys. The 19-year-old took to his Instagram stories on Saturday, May 4 to set the record straight about what actually happened during Coachella weekend — especially since Gage’s story didn’t align with his.
“I will address this now and never again,” the beauty guru wrote. “The boy that I was seen with at Coachella & I talked for 5 months prior to meeting. The day before festival day 1, he called me and told me he wanted to continue to explore his sexuality and meet in person to see what it would be like. He flew himself out and I invited him to my home with my friends & we spent the weekend together at the festival, holding hands, cuddling, sleeping in the same bed, and kissing. Nothing more.”
James also addressed the model’s accusations that he coerced him into a romantic relationship, despite allegedly telling James that he’s straight.
“We had many conversations where I asked him how he was feeling, and he told me that he felt very comfortable with me and my friends, that he was having the most fun weekend of his life, and liked the direction ‘we’ were going in, but still wasn’t sure about his sexuality,” he recalled.
The Sisters Apparel founder also revealed that he overlooked several red flags, which his friends picked up on and warned him about throughout Coachella weekend. Ultimately, though, James got hurt and said he “felt taken advantage of.”
On impulse, the internet star then referred to Gage as a “disgusting con artist” on Twitter, which he has since apologized for.
“I impulsively replied to a fan on twitter who was excited about ‘my new relationship’ and refuted it by calling him a con artist, which was completely wrong of me,” he admitted. “I deleted it, but it was too late. I take full responsibility for starting this whole mess and have already apologized to this person in private.”
But wait, there’s more. According to the makeup guru, Gage took the drama to a place it truly never needed to go by publicizing their drama on several social media platforms.
“That one tweet, however, led to him making several instagram stories, instagram lives, tweets, instagram story swipe ups to those tweets, and not one but two YouTube videos about me,” James said. “He left out many details, and accused me of pressuring him which is a blatant LIE, which has painted a false image of me being a predator. I will not stand for this or take it lightly. I would never, have never and WILL NEVER pressure a guy to do anything. Everything that happened between him and I was 100 percent consensual.”
In addition to James’ claims that everything he did with Gage was mutually agreed upon, he also said that the personal trainer never told him he was straight.
“In the 5 months of talking, he never ONCE said he was straight,” James wrote. “If he did, I would never have continued talking to him for so long. I am well aware that you cannot change someone’s sexuality. I do think he was curious, and I do think he saw an opportunity and took it.”
He closed out his statement by saying that he doesn’t think Gage did this with malicious intent, but moving forward, he will be way more careful about who he allows into his inner circle. Aside from that, James trusts that his fans know who he really is, and that he would never manipulate someone into a relationship they didn’t want to be in.
At this point, it’s unclear whether or not Gage will respond to James’ most recent statement, but we think it’s time these two put this drama to rest. We don’t know about you, but our heads are SPINNING.
If you or someone you know might be in an unhealthy relationship, please call 1-866-331-9474, text: loveis to 22522 or visit http://www.loveisrespect.org.
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