London YouTuber and rapper Yung Filly has been charged with rape after he allegedly “attacked and strangled” a woman during his Australian tour.
The internet star, 29, born Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, is accused of assaulting a woman in her 20s at his hotel room in Perth after he performed at a nightclub in the city.
He appeared at Perth Magistrates Court charged with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and four counts of sexual penetration without consent.
He has also been charged with one count of impeding another person’s breathing or circulation by applying pressure to the neck.
Barrientos is currently on tour in Australia and he was arrested in Brisbane in Queensland, before being flown 2,600 miles to Perth in Western Australia for the court appearance.At the city’s magistrates court on Thursday, an application for bail was adjourned until later in the day. Channel 9 News broadcast footage of the musician, who boasts more than three million followers on Instagram, being escorted in handcuffs through Brisbane airport.
Fans gathered outside the building and sat inside the public gallery during the hearing.
His Australian tour had kicked off in Perth before he headed to Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
Born in Colombia, he moved to the UK as a two-year-old refugee with his mother and sister.
The family relocated during his childhood to Catford, Kidbrooke, Deptford and New Cross, before settling in Orpington, Bromley.
Best known as a member of the YouTube group Beta Squad, he started his YouTube channel in 2013 and has 1.8 million subscribers.
Barrientos began sharing music in 2017 and collaborated with fellow British rapper Aitch on the song Grey, which has more than 2.5m views on YouTube and 10m streams on Spotify.
He has hosted several shows on the BBC - including Hot Property and Yung Filly’s Celeb Lock-In.
In 2022, he made his primetime TV debut on Channel 4’s The Great Celebrity Bake Off and presented the Mobo Awards with best friend Chunkz, another rapper.He took part in 2020’s edition of Soccer Aid and also appeared in an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show in March 2024.
When asked what it was like growing up, he told Indy100: “I come from the bottom of the barrel… and that’s why I’m so grateful for the position I’m in now.
“My mum definitely shaped me with the lessons she taught me.
“She’s a single mum with three kids, my dad was a s*** dad so she just had to make it happen.
“She did loads of cleaning jobs. My mum worked at Poundland at the time I had some mad BBC series… just getting my mum out of the position she was in was just the biggest motivation.”
The star has also worked with several fashion and consumer brands including ASOS, Perplex, McDonald’s, Primark and Captain Morgan rum.
A representative for Barrientos was approached by the Standard for comment.
