Rhianna Benson
Colleen Ballinger has broken her silence following her controversial musical response to allegations of grooming.
The former YouTube star, who brought the world 'Miranda Sings', first faced accusations of inappropriate behavior - including that she'd groomed some of her younger fans - three years ago.
In June this year, Ballinger created a musical response to the allegations and rumors that began after fellow YouTuber Adam McIntyre's claims - listed below - by strumming on a ukulele as she addressed what she dubbed 'lies' and 'gossip'.
The 38-year-old has since been absent on social media, after claiming that the musical video had gone against the advice of her representatives.
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But yesterday (18 November), Ballinger broke her silence on the matter, describing her YouTube 'apology' video as 'embarrassing'.
In the video uploaded to her 'Colleen Vlogs' YouTube channel, titled 'fall vlog', she addressed the past controversies and outlined her plans for the future.
"Obviously, the last video that I posted on here… it’s really embarrassing, to say the least," Ballinger says in the 13-minute-long video.
"Over the last 15 years of my career, there have been moments where I was immature and inappropriate with some of my comedy."
She went on: "And there were times when I did not put enough thought into some of my fan interactions and because of that behavior, people got hurt and I am so sorry.
"I do not expect anyone to welcome me back with open arms. I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind with this video."
Back in 2020, McIntyre, 20, shared a video accusing Ballinger of having formed an 'inappropriate personal friendship' with him, starting when he was 13 years old.
McIntyre claimed Ballinger had sent him lingerie 'as a joke', and that they had exchanged text messages for years.
Responding to his allegations in the musical video back in June, she admitted: "Some people are saying things about me that just aren’t true. Even though my team has strongly advised me not to say what I’m going to say, I realized they never said I couldn’t sing about what I want to say."
She went on to confess that she 'used to message [her] fans' early in her career, before insisting it was 'not in a creepy way, like a lot of you are trying to suggest'.
"It was more of a loser kind of way. I was just trying to be besties with everybody," Ballinger continued, before recalling 'oversharing' in some DMs.
She did claim however, that she later 'changed [her] behavior and took accountability'.