Colleen Ballinger’s tour dates cancelled following grooming allegations
Colleen Ballinger’s tour dates have been cancelled after she was recently accused of grooming.
The YouTube comedian, who is best known for her alter ego Miranda Sings, had been performing a string of live dates across the US in May and June. Her tour was scheduled to resume in Boise, Idaho this Thursday (July 13).
However, as The Independent has highlighted, despite the fact that many tour dates are still listed on Ballinger’s website, each link clicks through to websites stating that the shows have been cancelled.
According to her website, her show was “open to all ages and rated PG13 due to some adult references and expletives that appear briefly on a screen”.
Last month Ballinger was accused in an Huffington Post UK investigation of sending sexually explicit messages to young fans, which she denied at the end of the month via song in a video posted to her Colleen Vlogs YouTube account.
She said in her video: “Some people are saying things about me that just aren’t true. Even though my team has strongly advised me not to say what I’m going to say, I realised they never said I couldn’t sing about what I want to say.”
Ballinger added: “I used to message my fans – but not in a creepy way, like a lot of you are trying to suggest. It was more of a loser kind of way. I was just trying to be besties with everybody.”
Though admitting “there were times in DMs when I would overshare” she added that she “changed my behaviour and took accountability”.
NME reached out previously to representatives for Ballinger for comment over the allegations.
In other news, the musician, actress and comedian recently made headlines again for what could well be regarded as her wearing blackface.
In a resurfaced clip Ballinger is seen performing Beyoncé’s song ‘Single Ladies’ with dark paint on her face, backed by two dancers who aren’t wearing any face paint.
The video shared to her Miranda Sings YouTube channel in February 2018 is unlisted but is still viewable. Outlets including Entertainment Weekly last week reported on it resurfacing.
Ballinger has been a YouTube content creator since 2008 and originally gained notoriety as Miranda Sings, a character who wears poorly applied red lipstick and performs purposely bad covers of popular pop songs.
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Charlotte Krol
NME
