Colleen Ballinger, also known as YouTuber and singer Miranda Sings, has finally addressed allegations of grooming and predatory behavior with fans.
On Wednesday, Ballinger released a 10-minute video to her Colleen Vlogs YouTube account, which is not her main account. She starts off strumming a ukulele and singing about the “toxic gossip train.” She adds that her “team has strongly advised me to not say what I want to say,” and admits that early in her YouTube career, she should have had more “boundaries” in place, because she would often “overshare” with young fans.
But as the song goes on, it’s obvious that Ballinger is still upset that she was called out; there’s a lot of focus on what happened to her, and not so much on the fandom that supported her for years.
Fans of Ballinger, many of them minors at the time they had experiences with her, alleged that she made them feel uncomfortable and exploited during live shows and posted inappropriate content in group chats. In 2020, former fan Adam McIntyre accused Ballinger of inappropriate behavior; he was around 13 when he and Ballinger developed an online relationship.
In early June, he started posting about Ballinger again, after YouTuber KodeeRants posted private conversations between Ballinger and McIntyre. And then more stories started coming out about Ballinger’s alleged predatory behavior. In the video, Ballinger says she’s “not a groomer, I’m just a loser who didn’t understand I shouldn’t respond to fans.”
“I didn’t think the whole situation could get any worse….I stand corrected!” said one YouTube commenter.
“Girl- this isn’t an apology! Nothing was addressed, accountability was not taken, nothing was cleared up for me. This was musical rambling. Be for real,” said another.
