Trisha Paytas has spoken out about the allegations against her podcast co-host and friend Colleen Ballinger, after she was accused of “grooming” and forming “inappropriate personal relationships” with teenagers.
Comedian Ballinger rose to fame on YouTube, where she created popular sketches as her character Miranda Sings. As Miranda, a tuneless singer and content creator convinced of her impending stardom, Ballinger starred in her own Netflix series Haters Back Off.
In recent years, Ballinger, 36, has shared more content under her real name, including recording vlogs with Paytas, with whom she co-hosts the Oversharing with Colleen Ballinger & Trisha Paytas podcast.
Last week, several former members of the Miranda Sings fan club came forward, alleging that Ballinger “groomed” them.
Denying the allegations in a video posted to her Colleen Vlogs YouTube channel on Wednesday (28 June), Ballinger called the allegations “lies” and “toxic gossip” all while playing the ukulele and said she never had “any bad intentions”.
In the video’s description: Ballinger wrote: “I do not condone or support any kind of online bullying or hate towards anyone. ever.”
Public allegations against Ballinger date back to April 2020 when Adam McIntyre released a video titled “colleen ballinger, stop lying”. McIntyre, who is now 22, claimed Ballinger developed an imbalanced, unhealthy friendship with him when he was as young as 13.
Paytas, who has continued working with Ballinger despite the allegations, uploaded a new video to her channel on Monday (2 July), simply titled: “colleen.” In the video, Paytas claimed she was “unaware” of the allegations made against Ballinger until recently.
“I wasn’t aware of these most recent things that are coming out,” Paytas said in the video. “Everyone knows I have a very, very, very firm stance on talking to anyone underage, platonic or not.”
Trisha Paytas and Colleen Ballinger appearing in a YouTube video together in January— (YouTube / Colleen Ballinger)
She continued: “I have a lot of trauma when it comes to my relationships I had when I was underage. And not always sexual, a lot of my trauma comes from school. Authorities at school. Teachers at school that I trusted.”
Paytas added that she was “shocked” by Ballinger’s latest video, accusing her fellow YouTuber of “brushing over” the allegations that she continues to deny. Paytas added that Ballinger had sent her a link to her apology video, but Paytas did not respond to the message.
New allegations surfaced recently, with fans accusing Ballinger of sending unsolicited nude photos of Paytas to underage fans. They also claimed that Ballinger would openly mock private photos of Paytas behind her back.
Addressing these allegations, Paytas said in the video: “I do not condone, at all, sending unsolicited nudes of anybody. I think using someone’s nudes as a way to hurt them, make light of them, be mean, is the lowest form of human intelligence, I think that’s so inhumane and so disgusting for anyone.”
Paytas said she confronted Ballinger about the allegations, to which she denied them. The Independent has contacted representatives of Ballinger about the allegations made by both her fans and Paytas.
Colleen Ballinger, also known as Miranda Sings— (Getty Images for Nickelodeon)
In her apology song posted last week, Ballinger said: “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 realised they never said I couldn’t sing about what I want to say.”
McIntyre, the first fan to publicly make allegations against Ballinger, said in a tweet addressing the YouTuber’s ukelele song: “As much as colleen discredited & made fun of me, im glad her video did ONE thing, show you all EXACTLY the type of evil woman she is, that a lot of us have experienced over the past few years behind the scenes, the mask has slipped…everyone meet the REAL colleen ballinger.”
McIntyre reportedly first met Ballinger in 2014 at a tour stop in Dublin during a “very professional” interaction.
Two years later, they spoke directly during one of Ballinger’s livestreams in 2016, when one of his comments made McIntyre known to the star. During the livestream, Ballinger reportedly promised she would send some of her “ugly” and unused clothes to a few of her fans.
McIntyre received a set of her underwear shortly after, he said, during his 25-minute YouTube video posted over three years ago.
McIntyre had also claimed he was part of “Colleeny’s Weenies”, a small Twitter group chat with some of her other fans. In a subsequent video posted earlier this month, McIntyre shared screenshots from the private chat, in which Ballinger allegedly asked him what his “favourite position” was.
In 2016, McIntyre reportedly wrote in the chat that his “a** looks good”, to which Ballinger allegedly replied: “Pics Adam”.
Ballinger previously admitted sending McIntyre a bra and underpants in a 2020 apology video. “I don’t know what part of my brain was missing at the time,” she said. “But I am not a monster, I am not a groomer, and I shouldn’t kill myself.”
Now, several former members of the Miranda Sings fan club have shared their own experiences with Ballinger in interviews with HuffPost UK, including moments where they felt “mortified” by Ballinger’s behaviour.
One allegation made by a young fan named Becky recalled a time in 2019 when Ballinger called her on stage at a live performance for a “yoga challenge”. Ballinger, in character as Miranda Sings, allegedly lifted Becky’s legs over her head and spread them wide open. A fart sound was played over this moment.
Becky, who was wearing a romper/playsuit at the time, told HuffPost: “I looked up to her so much and I just trusted her so much that I did it. I laid down and she just spread my legs wide open for everybody to see.”
In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, she added: “I was mortified in that position. I was in shock. But I had so many like friends through [the fandom] that I didn’t want to necessarily lose.”
