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British star Yung Filly has been charged with rape and assault while on tour in Australia.
The Colombia-born rapper, comedian and internet personality, 29, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday (9 October) 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.
Born Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos in Cali, Colombia, Mr Barrientos moved to the UK with his family as a child, first to Orpington in Kent and then to south-east London, where he took an interest in the local grime scene.
He has cited his heritage as a major influence in his music, revealing that he would listen to Latino artists at home with his mother and sisters. “From a young age, I definitely had influences from Latino music,” he told Clash in an interview in February this year. “Growing up in London it was the grime scene that I fell in love with.”
Yet it was through YouTube as a comedian and internet personality that Mr Barrientos first found fame, having begun filming short comedy skits and uploading them to social media as a teenager. He was hired by the online channel Wall of Comedy for their Asking Awkward Questions series, which saw him interrogate members of the public on a variety of topics.
Catapulted to online fame, Mr Barrientos has since built a following of more than 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, around 120 million views and 1.9 million followers on Instagram. “I never sat down and said I wanted to be a YouTuber,” he told Hunger magazine in a 2022 interview. “I just did a couple of videos on my phone, uploaded them on my social platforms and everyone laughed, so I just carried on. I wrote bars before I ever made a YouTube video.”
With a significant online platform, Mr Barrientos then began to pursue a career in music, releasing singles including his debut, “Take Time”, in 2017 and collaborations with fellow internet celebrity and rapper Chunkz. His most recent releases were the 2024 tracks “Tempted” and “Grey”, the latter a collaboration with Brit Award-winning Manchester rapper Aitch.
In his interview with Clash, Mr Barrientos suggested that some of his peers believed that affiliating him – when he was better known as an internet personality – “[a] joke”.
“Some felt like I wasn’t as talented, which is also OK,” he said. “However, now I think the reception is definitely different – I guess everyone wants to be associated with the winning boat!”
In recent years, Mr Barrientos has hosted a number of shows for the BBC, including Yung Filly’s Celeb Lock-In. He also fronted the BBC Three show Hot Property, in which he helped young singletons snoop around the homes of their potential partners. In 2022, he appeared on Channel 4’s The Great Celebrity Bake Off and on Dutch athlete Wim Hof’s show Freeze the Fear, in which celebrities are set a number of challenges in freezing temperatures.
“I really do want to be a TV presenter,” Mr Barrientos told the Evening Standard in 2022. “I want to have the equivalent of a Big Narstie Show or [The Lateish Show with] Mo Gilligan.”
He also expressed his aspirations to get into acting: “I think I’m a bad boy actor,” he said. “I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing, but I watch [footage of myself] back and I don’t cringe, so that’s how I know I’m half-decent.” He revealed he had hired an acting coach and was beginning to organise auditions.
Mr Barrientos’s alleged assault of a woman in her twenties took place on 28 September in a Perth hotel room, after a performance at the nightclub Bar120 on 27 September.
He was arrested in Brisbane and extradited to Perth on Wednesday (8 October). He remains in custody.
ABC Australia reports that Mr Barrientos is being represented by Perth barrister Seamus Rafferty SC.
His application for bail was opposed by police prosecutor Julius Depetro.
Photos of the woman’s injuries allegedly caused by Mr Barrientos were provided to the magistrate by the prosecution, who said: “No ordinary person can consent in these circumstances.
“Across her body is a history of violent acts… We say these photos and what is alleged is beyond the pale, beyond what could be considered to be a consensual act.”
The Independent has contacted Mr Barrientos’s UK representative for comment.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
