Current:Home > FinanceMiranda Sings YouTuber Colleen Ballinger Breaks Silence on Grooming Allegations With Ukulele Song -TradeSphere
Miranda Sings YouTuber Colleen Ballinger Breaks Silence on Grooming Allegations With Ukulele Song
View
Date:2025-04-14 05:41:34
Colleen Ballinger is singing her side of the story.
The YouTuber, best known for her awkward alter ego Miranda Sings, refuted allegations of grooming and forming inappropriate relationships with underage fans in musical vlog on June 28. While strumming a ukulele, Ballinger likened the accusations to a "toxic gossip train" headed for "manipulation station" as the rest of the internet "tie me to the tracks and harass me for my past."
"Some people are saying things about me that just aren't true," she said in a sing-song voice. "Even though my team has strongly advised me not to say what I'm going to say, I realized they never said I couldn't sing about what I want to say."
Ballinger, 36, went on to explain how she used to message her fans "to be besties with everybody" earlier in her career, but "didn't understand that maybe there should be some boundaries there."
As a result, according to the Haters Back Off star, there were "times in the DMs when I would overshare details of my life—which was really weird of me—and I haven't done that in years because I changed my behavior and took accountability."
Earlier this month, Ballinger was accused of grooming her fans when YouTuber KodeeRants shared screenshots of an alleged text exchange between actress and her fans. Per NBC News, the unverified group text was named "Colleeny's Weenies," with Ballinger allegedly asking fans their "favorite position" during one conversation.
In her ukulele video, Ballinger addressed the recent online chatter over her past, singing, "I thought you wanted me to take accountability, but that's not the point of your mob mentality. Your goal is to ruin the life of the person you despise while you dramatize your lies and monetize their demise."
"I'm sure you're disappointed in my s--tty little song, I know you wanted me to say that I was 100 percent in the wrong," she continued. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not gonna take that route of admitting to lies and rumors that you made up for clout."
And while Ballinger confessed to making "jokes in poor taste" and "lots of dumb mistakes," she denied ever sending inappropriate messages to teenage fans with the intention of grooming them.
"I just wanted to say that thing I've ever groomed is my two Persian cats," Ballinger added. "I'm not a groomer. I'm just a loser who didn't understand I shouldn't respond to fans."
Allegations over Ballinger's behavior previously surfaced back in 2020, when fellow YouTube star Adam McIntyre accused her of putting him in uncomfortable situations between the ages of 13 and 16. In a video titled "colleen ballinger, stop lying," he specifically called out a past livestream where Ballinger sent him lingerie.
At the time, Ballinger responded to McIntyre and acknowledged that the underwear stunt was "completely stupid," saying in a separate apology video, "I should have never sent that."
"I don't know what part of my brain was missing at the time that I thought, 'Oh, this is a normal, silly thing to do,'" added Ballinger. "But I am not a monster."
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (54)
Related
- John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
- Warming Trends: Bill Nye’s New Focus on Climate Change, Bottled Water as a Social Lens and the Coming End of Blacktop
- The Best 4th of July 2023 Sales: $4 J.Crew Deals, 75% Off Kate Spade, 70% Nordstrom Rack Discounts & More
- Warming Trends: Bill Nye’s New Focus on Climate Change, Bottled Water as a Social Lens and the Coming End of Blacktop
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Why the Luster on Once-Vaunted ‘Smart Cities’ Is Fading
- CoCo Lee Reflected on Difficult Year in Final Instagram Post Before Death
- It’s Happened Before: Paleoclimate Study Shows Warming Oceans Could Lead to a Spike in Seabed Methane Emissions
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- A Teenage Floridian Has Spent Half His Life Involved in Climate Litigation. He’s Not Giving Up
Ranking
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- Study Underscores That Exposure to Air Pollution Harms Brain Development in the Very Young
- An Energy Transition Needs Lots of Power Lines. This 1970s Minnesota Farmers’ Uprising Tried to Block One. What Can it Teach Us?
- In an Attempt to Wrestle Away Land for Game Hunters, Tanzanian Government Fires on Maasai Farmers, Killing Two
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- How businesses are using designated areas to help lactating mothers
- Parties at COP27 Add Loss and Damage to the Agenda, But Won’t Discuss Which Countries Are Responsible or Who Should Pay
- Inside Julia Roberts' Busy, Blissful Family World as a Mom of 3 Teenagers
Recommendation
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
It’s Happened Before: Paleoclimate Study Shows Warming Oceans Could Lead to a Spike in Seabed Methane Emissions
Max streaming service says it will restore writer and director credits after outcry
Red, White and Royal Blue Trailer: You’ll Bow Down to This Steamy Romance
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
Shop These American-Made Brands This 4th of July Weekend from KitchenAid to Glossier
Inside Clean Energy: As Efficiency Rises, Solar Power Needs Fewer Acres to Pack the Same Punch
Fifty Years After the UN’s Stockholm Environment Conference, Leaders Struggle to Realize its Vision of ‘a Healthy Planet’