YouTube star Colleen Ballinger, the creator behind the online persona ‘Miranda Sings,’ has finally addressed longstanding accusations from Adam McIntyre, a 17-year-old fan who accused her of inappropriate behavior toward him.
McIntyre, who has uploaded regular videos regarding his relationship with Ballinger, came forward in an April vlog admitting that the YouTube star had sent him unused lingerie when he was 13.
The young fan also claimed that Ballinger discussed her divorce from her ex-husband with him, as well as recruited McIntyre as a sort of social media expert for her official Twitter accounts, with the promise of one day gaining an “internship” in the future.
[ad name=”article1″]
These accusations quickly went viral across the net, and many fans were upset that Ballinger hadn’t addressed the matter, with many accusing the YouTuber of “ignoring” the damning allegations against her.
Those concerns got answered on May 12, after Ballinger uploaded a video titled “Addressing everything,” in which she responded to the outrage against old videos of herself fat-shaming another person on a plane, portraying racist caricatures, and even admitting to an instance of animal cruelty.
[ad name=”article2″]
The final segment of her video discussed the drama surrounding McIntyre, with Ballinger explaining that she’d done an unboxing livestream for her fans during that time and had given away articles of clothing to viewers.
Known for giving away outrageous items like a “taco costume” and a “single piece of toilet paper,” Ballinger thought nothing of sending unused lingerie from the haul to her then 13-year-old fan, which was received as a funny joke by her fanbase at the time.
“Now, in hindsight, I see how completely stupid of me — I should have never sent that,” she stated. “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.’ I should have realized and recognized how dumb that was.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
[ad name=”article3″]
“It was never a sneaky, creepy, gross thing I did in secret,” she continued. “It was a silly, stupid mistake that now is being blown way out of proportion.”
She likewise addressed claims of not following through with her “internship” promise after receiving backlash on a social media post, admitting that she hadn’t reviewed the offending tweet “closely enough.”
The YouTuber also confessed to “oversharing” with her fans in relation to concerns of her speaking about her divorce with McIntyre, and ultimately wished him the best.
[ad name=”article4″]
Adam’s mother has since responded to the matter via his Twitter account, clarifying that she hadn’t implied “legal action” against Ballinger for speaking up on the issue.
to be respectful of my son. It was not a silence, nor the implication of legal action as is being circulated. (2/2)
— adam mcintyre (@adammcintyree) May 13, 2020
Adam himself has yet to respond to her video at the time of writing.
