Yahoo Lifestyle Colleen Ballinger, AKA Miranda Sings, Has Been Accused Of Racist And Inappropriate Behavior On The Set Of "Haters Back Off"
This post contains discussion of incest, rape, sexual abuse, racist comments, and abusive behavior.
Last week, allegations surfaced against Colleen Ballinger, aka Miranda Sings, that the YouTube personality had engaged in inappropriate conduct with younger fans earlier in her career — with one fan alleging that she "groomed" him.
Earlier this week, Colleen responded with a now-infamous 10-minute video where she played the ukulele and addressed her allegations, mostly in the form of song.
Now, a former employee for the since-canceled Netflix series about Miranda Sings, Haters Back Off!, has come forward with more allegations of inappropriate behavior toward Colleen.
In a newsletter post, April Korto Quioh — who worked as a writers’ assistant, a showrunner’s assistant, and a writers’ PA on the show — detailed allegations of racist behavior and disturbing content that Colleen allegedly wanted to work into the show.
April, who is Black, alleges that Colleen "had a knack for making ‘funny,’ biting comments about the people around her, and since we all had her to thank for our jobs, we were forced to just go with it. She saw no issue with commenting on my hair, or my clothes, or asking about my personal life. Her lack of boundaries was remarkable.”
April also says that Colleen allegedly asked writers to work in storylines in which Miranda and her uncle Jim would "be caught in compromising positions or stomach-churning moments of intimacy that could always be easily explained away by a clueless Miranda."
“It was my responsibility to write down every single one of these pitches, schedule calls to look at mockups of The Daddy Saddle [a prop that Miranda would use to ride on her uncle's back] that would be featured on the show, and mark points in the script where Colleen thought we could make Uncle Jim even more ‘r***y,’” April claims.
“It all felt deeply wrong — she would show us photos of the packed rows of smiling children who had attended her show the night before, and in the same breath, spend hours trying to think of a way to show Miranda and Uncle Jim all but having actual sex on screen.”
In addition to these claims, April also alleges that Colleen referred to the use of "POC background actors" in the show as "distracting" — and that, as an Asian food market was changed on location to look more like a bodega, she allegedly requested assurance that the store's "Asian shit" would be removed before filming.
April also seemingly suggests that Colleen allegedly used the N-word while on set. “I recall overhearing her once brag that a creator was being ‘canceled’ for saying the n-word (and if you think she went with ‘N-word’ instead of hitting that hard ‘r,’ then you haven’t been paying attention) and that she would never be stupid enough to get caught doing something like that," she wrote.
“While I cannot speak to the specific allegations against Colleen Ballinger — I stand with every single one of the children and young adults who have bravely shared their experiences in the past few weeks," April wrote elsewhere in the essay.
"In the face of attacks from online gaslighters and bizarre, callous, ukulele-soundtracked response videos, they deserve to be supported, heard, and believed.”
