There’s Actually An Explanation For The Video Of Colleen Ballinger Supposedly Wearing Blackface And Singing Beyoncé

After facing grooming allegations and backlash to her widely derided apology video/song, Colleen Ballinger (also known by the name of her character, Miranda Sings) appeared to be facing another controversy. An old video from 2009 resurfaced, in which Ballinger sang Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” during a live show, wearing blackface-like dark makeup all the while. Things weren’t as they may have seemed, though.

A video from the same show shared by TMZ offers a different perspective. The clip includes some of the “Single Ladies” performance, as well as the song before it. In the video, Ballinger sang a song with Oliver Tompsett, star of the Wicked musical. So, she wore green makeup in order to emulate the Wicked Witch of the West character from the show. After the song, Ballinger quickly changed into her Beyoncé outfit and didn’t take the time to remove the dark makeup from her face. So, it was the fast pace of the between-songs transition that, when taken out of context, caused confusion.

As for the grooming allegations, they come from a HuffPost investigative report from June, which featured fans coming forward with “screenshots of their private communications with Ballinger to evidence claims that she ‘groomed’ them throughout their adolescence.” One fan alleged that “Ballinger would bring up sex during their conversations back when he was still 14 or 15 years old.”

YouTube “Comedian” Colleen Ballinger Gets Backlash for Performing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in Blackface

YouTube Comedian Colleen Ballinger Gets Backlash for Performing Beyonce's Single Ladies in Blackface

Beyonce‘s “Single Ladies” was obviously one of the biggest hits of her career and over the past decade, there’s been no shortage of people performing the song in one way or another online. While most performances have been lighthearted and funny, viewers aren’t laughing at YouTube “comedian” Colleen Ballinger, whose performance of the hit song in underwear and blackface has recently resurfaced, causing more controversy for the already-embattled “comedian.”

Colleen Ballinger is generally known for her character Miranda and her “Miranda Sings” YouTube series, which revolves around a clueless aspiring singer. However, Ballinger also does other standup and musical comedy routines. In the video, which was posted to Ballinger’s channel about five years ago and is still live but unlisted, the comedian appears in blackface and starts by taking off a long black dress and then pulling what appear to be white cotton underwear out from underneath a black bodysuit. She sings the song with two muscular backup dancers behind her.

This isn’t the first time that Ballinger has been in trouble. In the past, she has been accused of making fun of a male actor with dark skin in which she reportedly asked “where is he?” during auditions for her short-lived 2016 Netflix show, “Haters Back Off.”

Ballinger has also been accused of sharing inappropriate photos with underage fans as well as sharing nude photos of her former podcast co-host Trisha Paytas with underage fans and others as well.

So far, she has not addressed the Beyonce video.

The post YouTube “Comedian” Colleen Ballinger Gets Backlash for Performing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in Blackface appeared first on The Source.

Colleen Ballinger Wore What Appears To Be Blackface While Covering Beyoncé In A Resurfaced Video

Colleen Ballinger (also known as her character Miranda Sings) is in a rough spot at the moment. In June, she faced allegations of grooming, which she responded to with a video in which she plays ukulele and addresses the situation through song. The video, as you might expect based on how I just described it, was poorly received.

Now, another apology video could very well be on the way: Today (July 5), an old video of Ballinger resurfaced. It was filmed at a live performance and it shows her singing Beyoncé’sSingle Ladies” on stage, all while wearing dark makeup that looks like blackface.

It’s not clear when exactly the video was filmed, but it was originally uploaded onto the Miranda Sings YouTube channel on February 22, 2018. The video is currently unlisted on the platform, meaning it doesn’t show up on the channel and won’t be shown in search results, but as of this post, it can still be watched here. Based on the full video alone, any potential additional context about the makeup Ballinger had on her face is unclear.

This comes after Ballinger apologized in 2020 for a different video, in which she impersonated Latin women in a video from 14 years earlier. She said in her apology video, “It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful. I am so ashamed and embarrassed that I ever thought this was okay. 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.”