The internet was rocked by rumors that the internet personality and Hyped about HYPE CEO Charleston White had been shot on October 20, 2024.
However, the controversial online personality came forward to confirm that these claims were fake and gave a blunt response to the rumors.
Charleston went to prison when he was just 14-years-old[/caption]
A reformed criminal
Charleston is an online influencer and media personality, who often talks about his criminal past.
He was arrested at the age of 14 for robbing a Foot Locker, in an incident that ended with one of his accomplices shooting and killing an innocent man.
In a Texas Tribune article, Charleston said: “I was, for all intents and purposes, a murderer. I didn’t pull the trigger but I was responsible for the shooting death of a man who tried to stop me and three friends from robbing a Foot Locker.
“Yet house parents, caseworkers, psychologists, teachers – they saw something in me.”
According to Charleston, four juvenile correctional officers voiced their opposition to him being transferred to the adult prison system.
This persuaded a judge to go against the state recommendation to transfer him to the adult system and he was released at the age of 21.
After leaving prison, Charleston joined a Church and became the father of two children.
He also founded Hyped about HYPE (Helping Young People Excel), which hopes to prevent young people becoming involved in crime as Charleston did.
Rumors of a shooting
On October 20, 2024, it was reported on social media that Charleston had been shot in Chicago, Illinois.
Users on X (formerly Twitter) claimed that the shooting had taken place outside of a hospital and some even included a 911 phone call, alleged to have been made because of the incident.
However, Charleston himself took to Twitter to debunk the rumors by appearing in a video where he explained that he couldn’t have been involved in the shooting.
In the video, he said that nobody is “shooting me in Chicago, they got to get me in Atlanta.”
Controversial comments
Charleston appeared on an episode of Cam Newton’s Funky Friday Podcast, on December 1, 2023, and made several controversial comments that went viral online.
He described Will Smith as “gay” and even claimed to have been chosen to campaign for Donald Trump.
Charleston said: “I was selected to campaign with Donald Trump, to go to three key battleground states.
He added: “I sacrificed a lot for my people only to realize…I don’t like my people.”
He defended his claims by saying that he was “willing to die, kill, and go to jail” for “what comes out of my mouth”.
The episode quickly racked up over 800,000 streams over 24 hours, despite having a runtime of a whopping three hours.
He went viral again on July 21, 2024, when he claimed that he would never vote for a black woman to be President of the United States.
He said in a video on social media: “Man, they got me f**ked up.
“I wouldn’t vote for no Black b**ch.
“Listen, I was raised by Black women.
“I have a grandmother, I got Black sisters, but I wouldn’t dare put no Black woman in no motherf**king position of White House, the Commander-in-Chief of the military.”
His comments came after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Kamala Harris received a surge of support from Democrat voters.
