Drag Race's Janey Jacké defends James Charles Snatch Game on UK vs The World | PopBuzz Meets

4 March 2022, 17:15

Drag Race's Janey Jacké Defends James Charles Snatch Game | UK vs The World

By Woodrow Whyte

"I understand that there was controversy around him...a lot more happened after we filmed the show"

Drag Race UK vs The World star Janey Jacké has defended her choice of Snatch Game character.

Following her elimination on this week's episode, Janey sat down with PopBuzz host Yshee Black to discuss her time on the show.

One of Janey's more controversial moments came during week four when she choose to do YouTuber James Charles in the Snatch Game.

According to Vulture, in February 2021, a 16-year-old boy claimed Charles had groomed him and pressured him into exchanging sexual photos via Snapchat. Charles claimed he had been unaware of the boy’s age at the time of the interaction. Three more males came forward to share their negative sexual experiences with Charles including a 17-year-old boy. Not long after that, a 15-year-old teenage boy used TikTok to share screenshots from conversations and photos he had exchanged with Charles.

Eventually Charles apologised to “two different people, both under the age of 18,” and explained that his reasoning on why the incidents took place, citing 'desperation, inexperience, and a misunderstanding of power dynamics'. He was subsequently dropped from major brand deals and lost a lot of his following.

This period of time overlaps a little with when UK vs The World filmed, which according to sources online was March 2021.

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Janey Jacké James Charles Snatch Game. Picture: World of Wonder / PopBuzz

Speaking about her performance in the Snatch Game, Janey said: "It wasn't my greatest performance. I prepared it really well but I got really stuck in my head because of the conversation with Ru.

"He was trying to explain to me about like layers and how an actress can do a certain character, but still be the actress and the other way around. And it's like, it just got me so confused. And I knew he was really trying to elevate me to a different level of performance but I was so scared of that challenge and I got stuck in my head."

Responding to the backlash to her choice of character, the controversial YouTuber James Charles, Janey said this:

"The only thing that I don't appreciate so much online is people hating on the fact that I did James Charles. I understand that there was controversy around him. With him being young and his choices online.

"A lot more happened after we filmed the show, like, last summer that made it a little bit more, you know, made a little bit worse. But I also believe in people being people, we're all human beings and we all learn from our mistakes."

She continued: "He acknowledged and he apologised, and he's working on himself to be a better person. And I think we should also focus on that and not so much on the negativity. We should stop calling him a paedophile. We should stop calling him a groomer. We should just acknowledge the fact that he made mistakes and that he's young... [when] we give young people a lot of power and a lot of money, they do really stupid things. And you know, and they should let go of that. And yeah, and that's the only defence I give them."

She then finished by saying: "I understand where he's influencing these other people. But at the same time, I'm like, all of your hate that you're reflecting to all of these people now, or to me, it also says something about yourself. You also have to acknowledge the fact that that is also putting a bad influence on people."

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