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In today's day and age of social media and streaming, the lives of internet personalities and social media influencers thrive on societal reactions as a means of sustenance.
This is why it is so important that they cultivate the 'right' persona, lest they end up invoking the wrath of their followers and end up as a victim of the 'Cancel Culture' phenomenon.
While Cancel Culture itself primarily tends to function as a double-edged sword, there have been several instances where Cancel Culture has failed to work, the most recent being PETA's criticism of Beauty guru James Charles.
The 21-year-old make-up artist is a prominent face on social media, where he has millions of followers on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. He recently bought a puppy, which did not sit too well with PETA, who called him out for 'clout':
Calling him reckless and accusing him of misusing his privilege, PETA alleged that as a social personality, he should have adopted a puppy from an animal shelter rather than buying one from a breeder.
PETA's tweet soon sparked off a whole chain of reactions online as their attempt to malign James Charles didn't exactly go according to plan.
PETA vs. James Charles
In a recent video by YouTuber Optimus, he speaks about the recent James Charles x PETA fiasco and begins by criticizing the latter:
I am just tired of these fools talking..every time they say something dude, it's stupid, they never have anything intelligent to say , they always work against their supposed message...with all the blatant hypocrisy they have going on.
He then goes on to address PETA's allegations, which he somewhat agrees with but supplements it with his views:
At the end of the day it's a personal choice you know, you should not feel obligated to make a decision based on what some person other than you says ...Well PETA of course thinks otherwise and if you don't think alongside them, they consider you a terrorist or something crazy !
PETA's major grouse with James Charles stems from the fact that he allegedly purchased a puppy to exploit it for social media traction and clout.
Their central argument rests on the point that rather than buying a designer or purebred dog, he should have adopted a homeless stray and given it shelter.
Keeping that in mind, Optimus ends his video by calling out PETA for its double standards and hypocrisy. He states:
They need something to make propaganda out of...PETA is one of the biggest f*****g shady and just lying organizations I think in the world , I think the fact that they pretend to stand for what they do is a complete fluke.
Check out some of the reactions online, in response to PETA's attempt to 'cancel' James Charles:
