Warning: This story contains discussion of grooming and inappropriate conduct.
On Monday, two former fans of YouTuber Colleen Ballinger claimed that she had previously sent them unsolicited nude photos of fellow internet personality Trisha Paytas.
The allegations came shortly after 36-year-old Colleen, who portrays character Miranda Sings on YouTube, had faced accusations of inappropriate conduct with her former viewers, most of whom were young teenagers.
Last month, several of Colleen’s former fans spoke out about their alleged experiences with her. In an article published by The Huffington Post, 20-year-old Adam McIntyre claimed that Colleen repeatedly talked about sex in a group chat that he and other then-teenage fans were in, and that she would regularly “trauma dump” on them about her personal hardships, such as her divorce.
Colleen wound up responding to the allegations made by Adam and other fans with a 10-minute ukulele song posted to her YouTube page. In the video, she admitted that she did used to message her fans in group chats and “overshare” details about her life, but denied that it was ever “creepy.”
“Many years ago, I used to message my fans. But not in a creepy way, like a lot of you are trying to suggest. It was more of a loser kind of way. I was just trying to be besties with everybody,” she said.
“There were times in the DMs when I would overshare details of my life, which was really weird of me,” she continued.
Colleen went on to accuse her former fans of making up “lies and rumors” for “clout” as she denied being “a groomer.” She ultimately faced heavy backlash over her ukulele song, and was called out by several internet users for making light of such serious allegations.
Then, this week, Colleen faced another wave of criticism after a former fan of hers named Johnny Silvestri publicly alleged that Colleen had sent him and other fans explicit nude photos and videos of YouTuber Trisha Paytas.
Johnny, now 27, shared screenshots of several alleged text exchanges he’d had with Colleen when he was 22, in which she appeared to send him unsolicited naked photos of Trisha. Adam McIntyre later alleged that Colleen had also sent him nude photos of Trisha when he was a minor.
Johnny also claimed that Colleen held “viewing parties” with her friends to make fun of Trisha’s NSFW content, and that he’d received messages from her showcasing this.
Trisha and Colleen have been publicly friendly for years. Just this May, the pair launched a podcast together titled Oversharing with Colleen Ballinger & Trisha Paytas, and have been uploading episodes until as recently as last month.
Now, Trisha has responded to the allegations that Colleen sent her nude photos to fans behind her back.
Releasing a 21-minute video titled “colleen” to YouTube on Monday night, Trisha — whose NSFW content is behind a paywall, and can only be accessed by subscribers aged 18+ — appeared to corroborate the claims that Colleen had sent her nude photos and videos to fans on “multiple” occasions.
“I do not condone sending unsolicited nudes to anyone of anybody,” Trisha said. “Sex worker or not, I think using someones nudes as a way to hurt them, make fun of them, make light of them, be mean, is the lowest form of human.”
“I think that’s so inhumane, I think that’s so disgusting for anyone,” she continued, before alleging: “These weren’t a long time ago. This is someone well into their 30s, just gave birth, sending nudes. And a month prior, I was in her house, meeting her child... and doing a Mukbang with her.”
“It’s a lot. And it wasn’t just one occasion. There was multiple times that she sent different photos and different positions of me,” she claimed.
Trisha also addressed the allegation that Colleen and her friends held “viewing parties” to watch her NSFW content.
“In these texts, there’s also friends of hers [who] showed the viewing parties that were talked about to make fun of me. They did viewing parties of my adult content to make fun of me,” she claimed.
“I don’t get those texts at all,” she later added. “I’m the joke. My naked body’s the joke, I guess. I don’t know, it’s very odd.”
Trisha went on, “It somewhat is embarrassing. I get made fun of all the time for my body, my nudes.”
“Hearing all that horrible stuff... about my body just being messed up or disgusting, it’s a lot,” she said. “Yes, I’m a sex worker and yes I chose this job and yes I make money doing it, but it never feels good to have someone just make fun of your naked body. It’s just a really vulnerable thing.”
“It is a little embarrassing if I’m being honest, but I’m more embarrassed for her — that this is the kind of person she is. I’m so embarrassed,” she continued.
“Sending these to fans unsolicited, the context of which she was sending these, I don’t get the purpose. I don’t know if there was an inside joke that I’m missing,” she said, before later adding that “a lot of those images and videos were behind a paywall that requires someone to be 18 and over.”
Later on in the video, Trisha claimed that she confronted Colleen about the allegations, and that Colleen denied them.
“I did ask her about these a couple of weeks ago... She assured me that she had never sent photos of me, [and] that this one fan who was underage at the time would send photos to her,” Trisha alleged.
“[Colleen] was like, ‘No, he was a fan, he sent photos to me and he was obsessed with you… and once in a while I’d respond to him.’ That’s what she told me a couple of weeks ago,” Trisha claimed.
Trisha also alleged that Colleen told her “everything” surfacing online had been “taken out of context.” She said, “As I was her friend and I knew her as a person, I was trusting her, I guess.”
Trisha ultimately labeled Colleen’s alleged actions as “barbaric,” “misogynistic,” and “downright cruel,” before apologizing to the people who had allegedly been sent the nude photos and videos.
“I’m so sorry to that fan, if this is true. I know firsthand how traumatizing that can be. I had nothing to do with this,” Trisha said.
And Trisha also rounded off by briefly mentioning Colleen’s aforementioned ukulele song, noting that the entire thing “was not an apology.”
