Colleen Ballinger shows, podcast canceled amid allegations

Colleen Ballinger’s live shows, podcast canceled amid new wave of allegations from fans

Colleen Ballinger with bangs and a ponytail wearing a strappy black dress against a blue backdrop.

By Jonah ValdezStaff Writer

July 11, 2023 2:41 PM PT

Colleen Ballinger‘s live comedy shows have been canceled amid a new wave of allegations of inappropriate behavior with underage fans.

Ticketmaster listings of her Miranda Sings Featuring Collen Ballinger tour dates indicate that the event organizer has canceled the shows and that buyers will be automatically refunded. Other listings at local performing arts centers and college campuses also announced cancellations. Ballinger had 11 remaining shows across the United States in her tour.

And “Oversharing,” a podcast she hosted with fellow YouTuber Trisha Paytas, was also canceled over the weekend. Paytas announced the podcast’s end in a video Saturday, commenting: “The podcast ending after three episodes is embarrassing.”

A representative for Ballinger did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment on Tuesday.

Paytas had been at the center of the most recent allegations against Ballinger. A former fan, Johnny Silvestri, shared on Twitter that several years ago, Ballinger allegedly sent unsolicited nude photos of Paytas, who also offers adult content on her OnlyFans page. Silvestri shared screenshots of the lewd conversations several weeks ago. He also claimed that Ballinger hosted watch parties to mock Paytas’ sexual content.

Amid the new claims, Paytas posted a separate video commenting that she was “shocked” and “hurt” by Ballinger’s alleged actions.

“I can’t take lightly as I am a full-time sex worker,” Paytas said. “I do not condone at all unsolicited nudes, sending to anyone or anybody, sex worker or not. I think using someone’s nudes as a way to hurt them, make fun of them, is the lowest form of human, the lowest form of intelligence. I think that’s so inhumane.”

Ballinger had built a large, passionate fan base over the previous decade, producing videos such as Miranda Sings, a satirical character of a diva performer, and as herself, where she has shared videos of her life as a partner and mother. Her Miranda character reached the height of popularity in 2016 when Ballinger landed a deal with Netflix to produce the series “Haters Back Off.”

But over the last month, several of her former fans have alleged that while they were still minors, the YouTube personality was “grooming” them to exploit them for free labor, “trauma dumping” on them during her divorce and sending sexual jokes in a group chat that included underage fans. After a viral clip showing Ballinger having a fan lie on her back and spread her legs as a fart noise sounded through speakers, she began to lose advertisers on her other podcast, “Relax!”

After a month of silence, Ballinger denied the allegations with a ukulele song, singing: “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, because five years ago I made a fart joke.”

The song was also met with wide condemnation from fans who felt the video was dismissive and made light of serious allegations. As memes poking fun at the apology video swirl online, Ballinger recently copyrighted the song; it streamed briefly on Apple Music before being removed from her artist page by Tuesday afternoon.

Since then, another controversial video of one of her live shows resurfaced, in which Ballinger performs a parody of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” with a dark substance smeared on her face. After many accused her of performing in black face, she disputed the allegations through an attorney, who said she was wearing green paint on her face from a previous song she had performed as Elphaba from the musical “Wicked.” .

Still other old parody videos that prompted more claims of racism were widely circulating online. The parodies show Ballinger mocking Asian, Latino and Native American people.

Her attorney did not respond to detailed questions about the other parody videos.