Growing up, I considered myself the number one fan of the beloved red lipstick-wearing YouTube sensation, Miranda Sings. I distinctly remember my younger cousin and I dressing up like her and taking videos of ourselves mimicking the “Miranda voice.”
Miranda Sings is an internet star who received immense popularity in the 2010s. She would wear a tremendous amount of red lipstick, a blue-striped collared shirt and red sweatpants that gave her a camel toe, and she would sing, make jokes, etc. Children worldwide loved logging onto her channel because she would make them laugh and smile. But who was behind the persona of Miranda Sings?
Colleen Ballinger is the mastermind behind the character. She began YouTube in 2006, doing a variety of characters and skits, and eventually gained popularity in 2010 with her character Miranda. From there, she started posting on Miranda Sings’s channel, her personal Colleen Ballinger channel, and her vlog channel. This led her to amass over 22 million subscribers overall.
Colleen was arguably YouTube’s sweetheart for many years. Not only was she so successful on the platform, but she also went on tour, Broadway, wrote a book, and had a Netflix show! She seemed to be friends with fellow YouTubers and fans and was close with her family. She outwardly seemed perfect. But now, the world knows the truth.
Colleen hid a lot from the general public, so let’s dive into everything that was unearthed this summer.
- During Colleen’s early stages of her career, she would make skit videos with her sister, Rachel Ballinger. However, these videos have been found recently, and they are disturbing to say the least. In these videos, they would pretend to be different ethnicities and make fun of their voices and heritage. These acts of racism were towards Native Americans and Asian people, and she has yet to apologize for these actions.
- Colleen had a group chat on Twitter with a group of fans called the “weenies.” This group chat was full of children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, with the two adults in the chat being Colleen and her best friend, Kory DeSoto. What happened in this group chat can only be described as grooming. Adam McIntyre, a member of the “weenies” chat, told the world how awful Colleen had been. Colleen auctioned off a pair of her panties and sent them to Adam; she asked the children to send pictures of their genitalia and made uncomfortable remarks to fans who were all minors at the time. Adam eventually worked for Colleen as an intern and helped run her social media platforms. One day, he posted something that got her a bit of backlash, so she yelled at him and fired him. They have supposedly not communicated since this incident.
- Last but certainly not least, Colleen had shown her underage fans pornography. But not just any pornography, but the OnlyFans account of fellow YouTube star, Trisha Paytas. Adam McIntyre came forward and said that Colleen would have him and all of the “weenies” watch Trisha’s pornography videos and make fun of her body. They would watch the videos and just comment on her weight and appearance; meanwhile, Colleen was publicly friends with Trisha and did this to humiliate her. Not only is this humiliating for Trisha, but what Colleen did is illegal, unjust, and disgusting.
Colleen uploaded a video titled “hi.” to address everything that was being speculated about her. However, this was not an apology video but rather a sing-a-long. She sang about what occurred while playing the ukulele but did not apologize or confess to anything. She was more blaming the fans and the people gossiping as a way to make herself look innocent. After this video received enormous hate, Colleen has not been seen on social media since.
Good riddance, Colleen. Go catch a ride on the toxic gossip train!