UPDATED, July 6, 2:10 p.m. ET: YouTuber and performer Colleen Ballinger, best known as the creator of Miranda Sings, was wearing green makeup in a video from 2009 when she sang Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” and was not in blackface as some posts on social media alleged, according to her legal representatives.
In a video clip posted online, Ballinger — as her Miranda Sings persona — has some kind of dark-colored greasepaint on her face as she performs the Beyoncé hit. Law firm Berk Brettler, which represents Ballinger, reached out to PvNew to explain that the clip that posted online did not show that prior to that, Ballinger performed the song “As Long as You’re Mine” from “Wicked” with Oliver Tompsett, a star from the show, and that she painted her face green like Elphaba, the musical’s protagonist witch. After that, she went right into “Single Ladies,” while still wearing the green makeup. According to her reps, at that time Ballinger closed all her shows with that Beyoncé song as it was one of her most popular bits. (See the longer version of the video below.)
The clip from the video, without the context about Ballinger’s “Wicked” number immediately preceding “Single Ladies,” was shared on Twitter Wednesday by social media influencer Paige Christie, who wrote, “I’m gonna need someone to explain the black on her face…” Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, an academic, activist and author of “This Is Why I Resist: Don’t Define My Black Identity,” cited the clip Christie posted and 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.”
According to Ballinger’s legal representatives, the suggestion that she was performing “in blackface” is false. The surfacing of the video clip comes after Ballinger last week publicly responded to accusations that she formed inappropriate relationships with teenagers, denying that she had “groomed” fans who were children. In a June 28 video, she denied the “lies” and “gossip” about her — partly in song, while accompanying herself on a ukulele.
“I’m sure you’re disappointed in my shitty 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 sang. At another point, she sang, “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.”
In 2020, Ballinger had issued an apology for a separate video in which she impersonated Latina women. “It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful,” she said in that apology video. “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.”
Watch the video excerpt from Ballinger’s 2009 performance in which she sings the song from “Wicked” followed by “Single Ladies”:
