In 2020, Charles hosted, directed, and co-produced the YouTube Originals reality competition series Instant Influencer.

[8][9] In 2010, James started a YouTube channel, JaysCoding, where he made song covers and videos about being in the Mario Kart Wii competitive modding community.

[17] His January 2019 visit to Birmingham for the opening of Morphe Cosmetics' second United Kingdom store caused gridlock in the city center.

[18] Charles did Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's makeup for promotional art for her single "Sally Walker" in March 2019 and appeared in the song's music video.

[23][25][26] In October 2020, Charles made a cameo appearance in the music video for American social media personality Larray's single "Canceled".

[27] Since the launch of his channel, Charles has made a number of collaborative videos, doing makeup on and with various public figures including: Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner,[28] Lil Nas X,[29] Kesha,[30] Madison Beer,[31] Doja Cat,[32] JoJo Siwa,[33] Charli D'Amelio, Addison Rae,[26] Trixie Mattel,[34] Avani Gregg,[35] and Bretman Rock.

Writing for the Irish Independent, Caitlin McBride remarked that he "spearheaded a makeup revolution among men", while Amelia Tait of The Guardian wrote that his online platform was "arguably revolutionary".

[58][59] This series of events sparked media analysis relating to cancel culture, allegations of toxicity against YouTube's beauty community, stereotypes of gay men as predatory, and the profits made from online feuds.

[60][61][62] In February 2021, a 16-year-old boy named Isaiyah posted a video to TikTok alleging that Charles groomed him by sending him nude photos and pressuring him into sexting with him despite knowing his age.

[63] Charles responded to the video with a tweet denying the grooming accusations and stating that the boy initially claimed to be 18 years old.

[65][66][67] In April 2021, Charles posted a 14-minute-long video titled Holding Myself Accountable, in which he stated that he sent sexually explicit messages to "two different people, both under the age of 18", denying knowing that they were underage at the time.

[67][68] Charles called his past behavior "reckless" and "desperate", stating, "to the guys involved in the situation, I wanna say I'm sorry.

[69][70][71][72] Later that month, Morphe released a statement saying they would cut business ties with Charles and YouTube temporarily demonetized his channel.