Prominent YouTuber Posts Bizarre Apology Song After Facing Allegations of Inappropriate Behavior With Young Fans: ‘I’m Not a Groomer, Just a Loser’
Popular YouTuber Colleen Ballinger has denied wrongdoing after accusations that she formed inappropriate relationships with fans.
Ballinger has spent decades on the platform with a self-named channel boasting nearly 9 million subscribers, a personal vlog channel with over 3 million subscribers, and her comedic alter ego Miranda Sings’ channel with 10.7 million subscribers.
Ballinger has built a career off of satirical music videos and sketches but rumors started to swirl in 2020 that the star may have formed an inappropriate bond with young fans.
According to NBC News, in 2020, YouTuber Adam McIntyre came forward to share his experience with Ballinger in which he says they became very close when he was 13 to 16 years old, while Ballinger would have been in her mid-twenties.
NBC News reported:
Ballinger formed an inappropriate personal friendship with him while he was between the ages of 13 and 16, which included her sending him lingerie as a joke. He also alleged that Ballinger gave him access to her social media, helped her generate content ideas, and that they exchanged text messages for years.
In recent weeks, more allegations have surfaced of Ballinger having previously messaged young fans, in an attempt to befriend them, having overshared information about her personal life. As well as videos from previous live shows Ballinger hosted in which people accuse her of humiliating and sexualizing young fans on stage.
On Wednesday, Ballinger finally addressed the allegations via song, explaining that her team had strongly advised her not to speak on the situation.
“I recently realized that they never said that I couldn’t sing what I wanna say,” Ballinger said, holding a ukulele.
In a ten-minute song titled, “The Toxic Gossip Train,” Ballinger admitted to contacting young fans but said it was in a “weird aunt” way and had nothing to do with “grooming” children.
“I used to message my fans — but not in a creepy way, like a lot of you are trying to suggest. It was more of a loser kind of way. I was just trying to be besties with everybody,” she sang.
“I’ve been sharing my life online for over 15 years. I’ve poured my heart out too and because of that I feel like I’m talking to my friends, but, in the beginning of my career I didn’t really understand that maybe there should be some boundaries there,” she added.
“There were times in the DMs when I would overshare details of my life, which was really weird of me I haven’t done that for years, you see, because I changed my behavior, and I took accountability,” Ballinger sang.
As the song continued, she pointed out how people were trying to cancel her and ruin her reputation, vowing that she never targeted young kids and always made the rating of her content online and in her live shows known, calling it PG-13.
“The only thing that I’ve ever groomed is my 2 Persian cats. I’m not a groomer, I’m just a loser, who didn’t understand I shouldn’t respond to fans and I’m not a predator even though a lot of you think so,” she sang.
Watch above via Colleen Ballinger on YouTube.
