Posted in: streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Colleen Ballinger, miranda sings, youtube

Miranda Sings Creator's Legal Reps Respond to Blackface Accusations

Colleen Ballinger's (Miranda Sings) legal team pushed back on blackface accusations, offering an explanation for the video that resurfaced.

Published Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:17:09 -0500

by Ray Flook

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A day after a video of Colleen Ballinger, aka Miranda Sings, resurfaced, showing the comedian, actress, singer & YouTube personality apparently wearing black greasepaint on her face while performing Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Legal representatives for Ballinger are pushing back on accusations that Ballinger performed in blackface – stating that the suggestion of such was "false" while offering a backstory on the matter. The 2009 video shows Ballinger (as Miranda Sings) performing the song – but law firm Berk Brettler communicated to Variety that prior to performing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Ballinger performed "As Long As You're Mine" from Wicked – and that her performance with Oliver Tompsett involved her wearing green facepaint to resemble the musical focus, Elphaba, the musical's protagonist witch. Once Ballinger was done performing, her representatives say that she went right into "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" while still in makeup from the Wicked performance (with Ballinger's reps adding that the comedian would end all of her shows with the Beyoncé song).

As noted in follow-up reporting from Variety yesterday, the growing controversy came only a week after Ballinger went public to push back on accusations that she had "groomed" young fans and was fostering inappropriate relationships with teenagers. In a video posted near the end of June, Ballinger called the accusations "lies and rumors that you made up for clout" while also writing in her song response that she was "Just a loser / Who didn't understand I shouldn't respond to fans." In 2020, Ballinger posted an apology video after receiving backlash for impersonating Latina women. "It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful. I am so ashamed and embarrassed that I ever thought this was OK. I was a sheltered teenager who was stupid and ignorant and clearly extremely culturally insensitive… Racial stereotypes are not funny, they're not a joke, and they should never be joked about," expressed Ballinger in the clip.

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