Colleen Ballinger is having an “honest conversation” with her followers about her past “stupid mistakes.”
In a video titled “Addressing Everything,” the YouTuber, more commonly known as Miranda Sings, is apologizing for a 14-year-old video in which she and her sister pretend to be Latinx women. She starts off by admitting that the characters she and her then-teenage sister played were “completely based in racial stereotypes.”
“It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful. I am so ashamed and embarrassed that I ever thought this was okay,” she says. “I was a sheltered teenager who was stupid and ignorant and clearly extremely culturally insensitive.” She adds that years later she and her sister realized that what they did was not right and decided to delete the video, because they didn’t want anyone to be “hurt” by it. Colleen insists that they didn’t do it to avoid controversy, as some alleged.
In addition, the YouTuber takes responsibility for how she spoke about an overweight woman who she sat next to on a flight 12 years ago. She admits that the derogatory comments she made were awful, but promises, “That is not the woman I am today.”
Ballinger then delivers a sincere apology to anyone she offended when she “insensitively” spoke about having to put down a dog that bit her as a child. Though she’s talked about it numerous times prior, Miranda says she wants to discuss it again, because “still to this day as a 33-year-old woman” she feels guilt for her dog’s death. She explains that she often uses humor to discuss hard topics, but didn’t think of how it might impact others.
“To anyone and everyone who was hurt or offended by the statements I made when I was younger, I am so, so sorry. I hope you all can see that the person I am today is so far from the person I was a decade ago,” she shares.
Lastly, the mother-of-one addresses an ongoing controversy that began a few weeks ago when a 17-year-old boy from Ireland alleged in a video that Colleen didn’t pay him for tweets he wrote for her Miranda Sings Twitter account. He also claimed that she sent him her underwear and bras.
Colleen insists this is not the case and explained that when the video was posted she chose not to discuss, because she claims she was “trying to respect the wishes” of the mother of the 17-year-old who made the video. Colleen went on to share screenshots of their past interactions, but only of messages that were shared between her and the adults, as the fan is a minor.
Furthermore, she denies giving the teen access to her Twitter account for over a year. She claims he had her password for only one day, which was a test trial of sorts.
As for sending him her bra and underwear, she confesses that is true, but insists they were new and it was nothing more than a joke.
She ends her video by promising that she will “continue to learn” from her mistakes and grow as a human being, but asks that cyber bullies learn words have power, just as she has throughout her career.
To hear her full apology, watch the above video.