James Charles: Popular YouTuber brings Birmingham city centre to a standstill
Thousands of teenage fans flocked to the Bull Ring shopping centre on Saturday to catch a glimpse of the popular makeup artist.
Sunday 27 January 2019 11:39, UK
A YouTuber with more than 13 million online fans is believed to have brought Birmingham city centre to a standstill after visiting a shopping centre.
American beauty guru James Charles, 19, was visiting the city to cut the ribbon for the grand opening of Morphe Cosmetics.
Around 8,000 fans flocked to the Bull Ring to catch a glimpse of the popular makeup artist, who has 13.7m subscribers on YouTube.
Videos on social media show he was greeted by four floors of screaming supporters during his 30-second appearance inside the shopping centre.
However there was heavy traffic congestion in parts of the city centre from 3pm until 7.30pm.
Motorists trying to leave car parks were stuck and some even opted to abandon their vehicles overnight.
Charles, who is also a model, shared a clip of the huge crowds at the shopping centre, writing: "I can't believe this is my life".
He also said it was the biggest meet-and-greet session he had ever done.
"There were 8,000 sisters [fans] at the mall. We keep breaking records every single time," he said.
"I will literally never forget today."
The internet personality also met 250 fans who were randomly selected through a ballot.
Extra police officers were brought in and escalators stopped to due to the volume of people waiting to see Charles.
The US teen arrived 20 minutes late and appeared for around 30 seconds in the front of the makeup store before disappearing.
One fan tweeted: "james charles broke birmingham!!"
While another Twitter user wrote: "Stuck in traffic in Birmingham for over an hour, James Charles definitely has something to do with this".
Charles, from New York, launched his YouTube channel in December 2015 and primarily focuses on makeup.
He has featured celebrities including Kylie Jenner in his videos and won the award for best channel in the Beauty category at the 8th Streamy Awards.