YouTuber Colleen Ballinger (aka Miranda Sings) is facing backlash once again after a video of the influencer allegedly wearing blackface while performing a Beyonce song resurfaced online. Her lawyers have disputed the claim, stating she was in fact wearing green make-up.
Colleen Ballinger is a fairly prominent YouTuber who started her channel back in 2008. She became known for her comedic character, ‘Miranda Sings,’ who was famous for her over-the-top behavior and wildly applied lipstick.
Years later, Ballinger came under fire for alleged inappropriate interactions with her young fans. The accusations first came to light in 2020 after a former fan, Adam McIntyre, exposed conversations he had with the YouTuber in a viral video, saying she’d also used her fans for unpaid labor.
Ballinger made a response to McIntyre’s claims and the issue faded into the background — until 2023, when McIntyre uploaded yet another video detailing his experience with her.
Other fans quickly came out with their own stories regarding Ballinger’s behavior, causing the YouTuber to face intense scrutiny from critics as they waited for her response… which came in the form of a song she sang while playing a ukulele a few weeks later.
Viewers were upset by her reaction to the criticism against her, with many feeling as though she’d “mocked” the pain of her supposed victims and wasn’t taking the situation seriously.
Colleen Ballinger under fire for “blackface” in mock Beyonce performance
The criticism of Ballinger continued on July 5, when a video of the YouTuber performing Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ resurfaced, with users claiming she was in ‘blackface’.
This incident kicked off another slew of backlash against the influencer, who apparently spoke about this performance in one of her books. Twitter user ‘Paigey’ showed that the video was linked via a QR code in the book, as seen in the tweet below.
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Ok and this is where it’s located in the book – she performed this on the west end, I have reason to believe due to the shows on for “naked boys singing” that the video was from around summer of 2010 & posted unlisted to accompany the book in 2018 https://t.co/KmWX4Z7dxA pic.twitter.com/w7hvprKMmq
— Nagatha Christie🕵🏾♀️ (@PaigeChristieUK) July 5, 2023
However, according to Ballinger’s legal representatives, she was wearing “green make-up”, not ‘blackface’ as the posts on social media had suggested.
Viewers can watch the original video, which was uploaded in 2018, on the Miranda Sings YouTube channel.
Former assistant accuses Colleen Ballinger of racist and inappropriate behavior
Adding to the controversy of Ballinger’s resurfaced video is her former assistant who worked on the set of Haters Back Off.
April Koro Quioh was a writers’ assistant, a showrunner’s assistant, and a writers’ PA for the Netflix show and has now come forward with her own allegations against Ballinger.
Publishing an article to her personal website, Quioh claims Ballinger wanted to limit diversity as POC background actors would be “distracting” due to the show taking place in Washington.
When an Asian food market was re-dressed as a bodega for the show, Ballinger apparently demanded all the “Asian sh**” to be removed before filming.
For a full breakdown of the Miranda Sings / Colleen Ballinger situation, check out our page right here.
