YouTuber and performer Colleen Ballinger, best known by the name Miranda Sings, has been accused of performing in blackface in a resurfaced video.
The clip was originally shared in February 2018 on the Miranda Sings YouTube channel. It is still able to be viewed but is unlisted.
The clip shows Ballinger sporting dark-colored grease paint on her face while singing the popular Beyoncé song “Single Ladies.” Some viewers saw the clip and accused Ballinger of performing in blackface, while others insisted the makeup was tinted green and could have been left over from her performing a song from the musical “Wicked.” Ballinger’s legal representatives echoed those claims, stating that the video was originally recorded in 2009, per Variety.
A clip of the performance went viral after user Paige Christie posted it to Twitter with the caption, “I’m gonna need someone to explain the black on her face…”
https://twitter.com/PaigeChristieUK/status/1676582338719805441
Activist Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, who made headlines in May for refusing to start an interview until a British TV presenter pronounced her name correctly, commented, “Colleen Ballinger tells the world she’s a racist with her full chest. Imagine doing a Beyoncé song in Blackface and the audience are laughing & being entertained. These White people know what they are doing. Racists be racizisming.”
The video comes several weeks after Ballinger publicly responded to allegations that she had inappropriate interactions with teenage fans in the past. The YouTuber responded to the claims in a June 28 video with a song she posted on her channel, calling the accusations “lies” and “gossip.”
“I’m sure you’re disappointed in my s***tty 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,” Ballinger said at one point.
Another lyric said, “The only thing I’ve ever groomed is my two Persian cats / I’m not a groomer, just a loser / who didn’t understand I shouldn’t respond to fans / and I’m not a predator even a lot of you think so / because five years ago I made a fart joke.”
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Ballinger previously apologized in 2020 for a bit she did about Latina women.
“It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful,” she said, per Variety. “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.”