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Fans Call on Disney to Erase ‘Miranda Sings’ Film Cameo Following Grooming Allegations Against Colleen Ballinger

in Disney+, Entertainment, Movies, The Walt Disney Company

Posted on by Jess Colopy
Colleen Ballinger playing her ukelele apology, juxtaposed next to her cameo as Miranda Sings in 'Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet'

Credit: Colleen Ballinger YouTube / Walt Disney Animation Studios

Life came crashing down for YouTuber Colleen Ballinger in early June when a former fan revealed the “Miranda Sings” actress’ sinister plots to hide her alleged inappropriate relationships with children. As Ballinger continued touring the country, former young fans spoke about their experiences with the social media personality.

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Days after Ballinger broke her silence in a new video (simply titled “hi.”), more allegations piled up. Multiple brands pulled sponsorships from her YouTube channel and podcast as her subscriber count dropped.

Now, fans are demanding The Walt Disney Company comment on the accusations against Ballinger, who cameoed in the Wreck-It Ralph (2012) sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).

Who Is Colleen Ballinger, a.k.a. Miranda Sings?

Colleen Ballinger performs as Miranda Sings with bright red lipstick and a purple shirt.
Credit: Miranda Sings YouTube

Miranda Sings was a pioneer of early YouTube. Despite long dodging allegations that she based the character on disabled relatives, Ballinger took the character all the way to Netflix. Her show, Haters Back Off, received an unprecedented two seasons in a time when the streaming service often canceled popular series after the first season finale.

Yet it was Miranda’s success that partially brought on Ballinger’s downfall. Parents were disturbed at the ‘Uncle Jim’ character, who alluded to molestation and sexual assault in Miranda Sings’ YouTube videos and books. A former personal assistant on set spoke out about Ballinger’s insistence on the inappropriate behavior of the character, despite writers’ concerns.

The Allegations Against Colleen Ballinger

YouTuber Adam McIntyre came out about his inappropriate relationship with Ballinger in 2020. Alongside her best friend Kory Desoto, Ballinger mailed the then-underage fan a lingerie set, which she disregarded as a “big mistake” in an apology video at the time.

Colleen Ballinger looks seriously into the camera in her 2020 apology video.
Credit: Colleen Vlogs

“Now, in hindsight, I see how completely stupid of me; I should have never sent that,” Ballinger said in 2020. “I don’t know what part of my brain was missing at the time that I thought, ‘Oh, this is a normal, silly thing to do.’”

So why now? Kodee Tyler Dahl (known online as KodeeRants), an adult fan close with Ballinger in 2020, made a video in June revealing that Ballinger initiated a harassment campaign against McIntyre behind the scenes. They shared screenshots from the private group chat (“colleenys weenies”) between young fans and Colleen and her sister-in-law, Jessica Ballinger.

Dahl later deleted their video after receiving backlash for actively communicating with Colleen’s brother, Trent Ballinger… who also allegedly sent sexual messages to a 13-year-old.

Colleen Ballinger speaks to her brother, Trent Ballinger.
Credit: Colleen Ballinger YouTube

But McIntyre stayed in the spotlight, revealing voice memos and screenshots of Ballinger and DeSoto inappropriately interacting with young fans. In one screenshot, Ballinger asked then-teenaged McIntyre if he was a virgin and what his favorite sex position was. In another, she asked for pictures after he joked to his teen friends that his “*ss looks so good today.” She often complained to the teens about her ex, Joshua Evans, and reportedly asked for advice on propositioning her current husband, Erik Stocklin, for sex.

An anonymous young fan shared this screen recording of Ballinger encouraging young fans to send her videos of themselves putting tampons in their mouths. At a Miranda Sings meet & greet, some of the teen girls in the group chat posed with Ballinger precisely as the video instructed:

here’s tampon pic for those in h3 who want to see

Many of these fans spoke anonymously through McIntyre and a former Miranda Sings tour employee, Johnny Silvestri. In real-time, millions watched the unraveling of an online community led by one person for over fifteen years.

Adam McIntyre posed next to a picture of himself as a child and Miranda Sings
Credit: Adam McIntyre

“The reason that this is, I think, gaining so much traction now is because all of her first cycle of fans that she had, you know, me and the other group of fans that started ten years ago, we’ve all grown up now,” one fan told NBC News. 

Colleen’s “Apology?”

Colleen’s so-called apology video premiered on June 28. The video quickly became a meme, as Ballinger spent ten minutes strumming a ukelele and singing about the “toxic gossip train” that destroyed her career. She accused the former fans of stabbing her in her “bony little back.”

Ballinger firmly denied the grooming allegations and refused to utter an apology. “The only thing I’ve ever groomed is my two Persian cats,” she quipped. She blamed parents for not monitoring what their children watch online.

For McIntyre, the most insulting moment in the video was when Ballinger referred to an inappropriate interaction as a “fart joke.” Ballinger referred to a young fan named Becky, who spoke out about feeling traumatized after “Miranda Sings” forcibly spread her legs on stage when she was just a teen:

@_imjustzander

#duet with @becky #colleenballinger #youtubersontiktok #mirandasings #youtubecommunity #ogyoutubers #ballingerfamily #believevictims #stopvictimblaming #stopvictimshaming

♬ original sound – becky

As her PR team likely warned, the video had the Streisand Effect. Thousands of parodies hit TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube – even television personality Howie Mandel mocked Ballinger’s non-apology.

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In the following days, even more accusations and screenshots went public on social media. Ballinger’s ex-husband Joshua David Evans condemned his ex-wife’s behavior and apologized for his participation.

Former friend and podcast co-host Trisha Paytas spoke out on July 3 after it was revealed that Ballinger sent underage fans content from her OnlyFans, which she allegedly subscribed to mock Paytas. Silvestri shared screenshots of the explicit content he received as a 20-year-old, and McIntyre confirmed that Ballinger sent him many of the same videos and photos as a minor.

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Days later, much of the conversation around Ballinger has shifted to offensive content made in her early days, including alleged performances in Blackface, stereotypical imitations of Native Americans, a racist rendition of “Gangnam Style” by PSY, and fatphobic comments made alongside her sister, Rachel Ballinger. (Ballinger’s team denies that she ever wore Blackface.)

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) Cameo

So, what does Ballinger have to do with Disney? The YouTuber cameoed in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), a sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2012). At the time, fans were delighted to see the social media star represented alongside numerous Disney Princess legends and Stan Lee. Now, many are calling for the scene’s removal.

It started with a Tweet from @poorlyagedthings, which quickly went viral in the wake of the “toxic gossip train” apology video:

what a timeless and appropriate cameo

“I have a feeling that this will be one of those things that’ll be cut out of future releases or something like that,” said @hayley5662:

Many found Balligner’s cameo hypocritical, given her insistence in the infamous apology video that Miranda Sings is not targeted toward children. @cosmicr3wind wrote:

can we just talk abt how in the 2011 quirky white girl ukulele darvo jamboree how she said “mirandasings was never meant to be for kids” despite not only cameoing in a disney movie but also showing up at nickelodeon events fully in character for children to see?

Some said that Disney+ might add a content warning to Ralph Breaks the Internet as they’ve done for films like Aladdin (1992) and Peter Pan (1953). From @nicktoth81:

Can’t wait for Disney+ to add a content warning before Ralph Breaks the Internet

Others argued that this is a reason never to produce movies about the internet, as multiple once beloved social media stars have been revealed to be predatory. @shoe0nhead wrote:

wreck it ralph 2 was god awful for many reasons but it really showed how you cant make “meme movies”. the internet moves so fast. in the blink of an eye the featured memes are stale and the featured youtubers have groomer allegations

Nevertheless, fans believe it’s on Walt Disney Animation Studios to write the wrong. @livmendel’s tweet about editing Ballinger out of the film received thousands of likes, retweets, and replies:

would love to see disney remove the miranda sings cameo from ralph breaks the internet

Should Walt Disney Animation Studios edit YouTube star Colleen Ballinger out of Wreck-It Ralph 2? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments. 

 

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