It’s a stretch for Amelia Tait to compare YouTube celebrity James Charles to the Beatles (Opinion, 30 January).
Buying a Beatles single – as tens of millions did – in the 1960s involved actually going to a shop and handing over cash to buy a physical object. That’s rather different from merely tapping a screen, which is the only transaction required to register as a YouTube fan. Moreover, Charles’s narrow celebrity within his own fanbase is hardly comparable to the near-saturation mainstream media coverage attracted by the Fab Four, whose global presence in 60s culture was overwhelming and ubiquitous. My grandmother, who never bought or listened to a popular music recording in her life, couldn’t help but recognise the faces and know the names of all four members of the band.
YouTubers such as Charles bear a much greater resemblance to the more ephemeral end of the celebrity spectrum. Think of authors such as Dornford Yates: massively popular in the 1930s, but almost forgotten today. What will be remembered of John Charles a few decades hence?
Christopher Goulding
Newcastle upon Tyne
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