A new extended video of Colleen Ballinger’s 2009 performance that went viral shows the comedian was not performing in blackface as she was widely blamed for Wednesday on social media and in other reports.
Ballinger instead wore green makeup from a previous rendition of a song from the movie and performed “Wicked” in the viral music video in which she sings Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” as seen in the 2009 video provided to TheWrap by her attorney. , Andrew Brettler.
“What you don’t see in the clip that’s been uploaded is that Colleen was performing a song from ‘Wicked’ with show star Oliver Tompsett,” 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 YouTube star “Miranda Sings” performing with dark makeup smeared across her face, was heavily criticized as the video sparked the “blackface” trend on Twitter.
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The lengthy video of the performance shows Ballinger singing “As Long as You’re Mine,” from the musical before she strips down into a bodysuit to follow up with “Single Ladies” without changing her makeup.
“At that time, she closed all of her shows with that Beyoncé number — it was one of her most popular tracks,” Brettler said.
The ‘blackface’ controversy follows other accusations against the YouTuber, including that she made racist remarks while filming 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, wearing makeup with heavily drawn eyebrows, posed as Latina.
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