Colleen Ballinger returned to the internet after 'grooming' allegations earlier this year, addressing her actions and her widely-criticized ukulele apology
Colleen Ballinger returned to the internet after five months of silence.
She addressed the wave of criticism about her interactions with young fans.
She also said she regretted the widely condemned ukulele apology she posted in June.
Colleen Ballinger returned to the internet after a five month hiatus, following a flurry of criticism over her interactions with young fans and a widely condemned ukulele apology.
Ballinger abandoned her 8.4 million subscriber-strong YouTube channel in June after posting a 10-minute video titled "hi."
In it, she strummed a ukulele and sang a song addressing some of the controversies that had been mounting against her in weeks prior, including allegations from former fans who said she had interacted with them in ways that now made them feel uncomfortable.
The video was almost universally criticized for making light of serious allegations, particularly the line where she said she was "not a groomer."
"I'm just a loser who didn't understand I shouldn't respond to fans," she sang.
'I just let my ego take over'
Ballinger's return video, titled "fall vlog," starts with Ballinger explaining her absence and admitting the song was "embarrassing."
"Hello, everybody," she said. "Sorry, I've been gone for so long. I've really missed this. I've missed talking to everyone every single day."
She said she had been accused of some "pretty awful things," and the song reacted to that.
"I just was mad, and I should have handled that situation with maturity and empathy," she said. "But instead, I just let my ego take over, and I'm really disappointed in myself."
Ballinger, best known for her eccentric, kooky character Miranda Sings, has been a content creator since 2008.
She appeared on late-night talk shows, got her own Netflix series, performed on Broadway, and published two books.
But a backlash against her began when YouTuber Adam McIntyre accused her of forming an inappropriate relationship with him when he was between the ages of 13 and 16. In a 2020 YouTube video, McIntyre said he wrote many of Ballinger's tweets for her but was never paid and claimed she had sent him lingerie (Ballinger later confirmed this and apologized).
Three years later, this summer, other fans came forward with their experiences, including screenshots of messages between Ballinger and teenage fans in her group chat called "Colleeny's Weenies."
One message included a question from Ballinger to the group about their "favorite position" — assumed to be a sexual reference. Another had Ballinger sending NSFW OnlyFans photos of fellow content creator Trisha Paytas to the young fans. Paytas, when she found out, labeled the interaction "inhumane" and "disgusting."
"Over the last 15 years of my career, there have been moments where I was immature and inappropriate with some of my comedy, and there were times when I did not put enough thought into some of my fan interactions," Ballinger said in her comeback video. "And because of that behavior, people got hurt. And I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt anybody."
'Welcome back'
Ballinger said she wanted to apologize to some fans who would have felt "disappointed" and "abandoned" by her silence. She said she needed to take the time out to make sure she was "listening and learning," and getting the help she needed.
"But I'm back, and I'm here now, and I'm not a perfect person," she said. "And there are plenty of things in my past that I wish I could go back and redo and fix and change. I don't have control over any of that, and I don't have control over the things people say about me. I only have control over my actions moving forward."
Ballinger spent the remaining 10 minutes of the 13-minute video giving updates about her children, looking after her chickens, and making plans for Christmas.
The comments on the video were full of fans saying they had missed Ballinger and were happy to see her vlogging again.
"I've been smiling through the entire video, so happy to see you!" one fan wrote. "Welcome back."
However, the response elsewhere on the internet was mixed. Some criticized Ballinger for returning just in time for December on X, formerly Twitter, when the AdSense earned on YouTube tends to be at its highest.
Some also took issue with the amount of time Ballinger dedicated to the criticism she had faced.
Some also took issue with the amount of time Ballinger dedicated to the criticism she had faced.
"Did Colleen Ballinger really came back to post a fall vlog to only address everything in a span of 3 minutes, not apologize to ANY of the victims by name and then proceeded to show us her chickens and kid's clothes?" one person wrote.
Read the original article on Insider
