There’s Actually An Explanation For The Video Of Colleen Ballinger Supposedly Wearing Blackface And Singing Beyoncé

After facing grooming allegations and backlash to her widely derided apology video/song, Colleen Ballinger (also known by the name of her character, Miranda Sings) appeared to be facing another controversy. An old video from 2009 resurfaced, in which Ballinger sang Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” during a live show, wearing blackface-like dark makeup all the while. Things weren’t as they may have seemed, though.

A video from the same show shared by TMZ offers a different perspective. The clip includes some of the “Single Ladies” performance, as well as the song before it. In the video, Ballinger sang a song with Oliver Tompsett, star of the Wicked musical. So, she wore green makeup in order to emulate the Wicked Witch of the West character from the show. After the song, Ballinger quickly changed into her Beyoncé outfit and didn’t take the time to remove the dark makeup from her face. So, it was the fast pace of the between-songs transition that, when taken out of context, caused confusion.

As for the grooming allegations, they come from a HuffPost investigative report from June, which featured fans coming forward with “screenshots of their private communications with Ballinger to evidence claims that she ‘groomed’ them throughout their adolescence.” One fan alleged that “Ballinger would bring up sex during their conversations back when he was still 14 or 15 years old.”