New extended video of Colleen Ballinger’s 2009 performance that went viral shows the comedian was not performing in blackface as she was widely accused of Wednesday on social media and in other reports.
Ballinger was instead wearing green makeup from a previous performance of a song from the film and play “Wicked” in the viral clip in which she sings Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” as 2009 video provided to TheWrap by her attorney, Andrew Brettler, shows.
“What you don’t see in the clip that was posted online is that Colleen was performing a song from ‘Wicked’ with Oliver Tompsett, a star from the show,” Brettler said in a statement accompanying the video, which you can watch above. “She painted her face green like the witch [Elphaba].”
The video, which featured the “Miranda Sings” YouTube star performing with dark makeup smeared on her face, was met with strong criticism as the video caused “blackface” to trend on Twitter.
The extended video of the performance shows Ballinger singing “As Long as You’re Mine,” from the stage musical before she strips down to a bodysuit to follow it up with “Single Ladies” without changing her makeup.
“At that time, she closed all her shows with that Beyoncé number — it was one of her most popular bits,” Said Brettler.
The “blackface” controversy follows other accusations against the YouTuber, including that she made racist remarks on the set of her Netflix series, “Haters Back Off!,” and that she was “grooming” her young fans with inappropriate behavior.
In 2020, Ballinger apologized for a video in which she and a friend, made up with heavily drawn eyebrows, pretended to be Latina.
