Colleen Ballinger's extraordinary failure
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
TW: Detailed allegations of grooming and inappropriate contact with minors.
Facing accusations of inappropriate relationships with her teenage fans and grooming, Colleen Ballinger decided that the best course of action was to respond with a ditty on a ukulele explaining that she was actually the victim of a “toxic gossip train.”
It was just over a decade ago that Colleen Ballinger was enjoying viral success. Her “Miranda Sings” character led to a Netflix series, she appeared in Waitress on Broadway, and she was able to use that success to spin off more successful channels and content on YouTube.
But throughout that entire time, Ballinger was allegedly interacting with her fans in inappropriate ways, especially with minors. In screenshots, Ballinger appears to body shame, gossip about other fans, and reveal personal information about her romantic relationships. One former fan stated that Ballinger asked him if he was a virgin and what his “favorite position” was.
Ballinger didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from news outlets, nor did members of her public relations team and management. She hadn’t posted videos to her YouTube channels in weeks.
That all changed yesterday.
In a stunning and bewildering move, Ballinger posted a nearly 10-minute video that consisted of her singing an explanation while playing the ukelele. To say it was a car wreck would be putting it mildly.
In the video, rather than apologize and take accountability for her actions, Ballinger goes the opposite route and blames folks for spreading lies simply for entertainment’s sake and (despite her denial of doing so) gaslights those impacted by what’s occurred.
“Some people are saying things about me that just aren’t true,” she said at the beginning of the 10-minute video. She continued, “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 later sings, “I’m sure you’re disappointed in my shitty little song / I know you wanted me to say that I was 100% in the wrong / well I’m sorry I’m not gonna take that route / of admitting to lies and rumors that you made up for clout.”
Here is the entire video. It’s tone-deafness to the highest degree.
I spoke with a friend of mine who works in PR about this. They told me it was “one of the most jaw-dropping ways to end your career.”
“She was likely getting valuable advice from her team and she completely ignored it,” they continued. “Her actions aren’t out of strength or boldness, it comes from her ego. I’ll be surprised if any PR firm works with her again.”
I agree. Before yesterday’s video, there was a path to redemption for Ballinger. She could have taken accountability for her actions, apologized to those she impacted, and taken steps to better herself and learn. She could have become an advocate to prevent online grooming and used her massive platform to raise awareness of predatory behavior on social media.
And, let’s be honest, she’s a thin pretty white person and thin pretty white people usually get second chances more than other folks.
But Miranda’s gotta sing and sing she did.
And make no mistake, this wasn’t some spontaneous decision in the heat of the moment. She took time to write this, record it, perhaps edit it, and had a moment to think before she posted the video. There were plenty of moments for her to stop and reconsider doing the absolute worst to the folks she hurt and herself.
Now, the future is unknown for her. Hollywood won’t come calling. If Broadway exiled Laura Osnes as quickly as they did, that’s not happening. All she has left is to produce content on her social media for a dwindling audience or perhaps a new one that martyrs folks like her and Osnes against the “woke” mobs. Although that would mean she would need to rebrand herself entirely. But if the empty-headed “hi” video is proof of anything, it’s that she will surely try.