Colleen Ballinger calls her ukelele apology video embarassing and says her ‘ego took over’

Colleen Ballinger has unfortunately returned to YouTube and addressed her infamous ukelele apology video which she posted in June. In case you missed the trainwreck that was her apology video, she denied allegations of grooming through a song.

And now in her first YouTube video in four months titled ‘fall vlog,’ she has acknowledged that the apology was “really embarrassing” and says her “ego took over.”

She said: “Obviously, the last video that I posted on here is really embarrassing, to say the least. I was being accused of some pretty awful things and I just was mad. I should have handled that situation with maturity and empathy, but instead, I just let my ego take over and I’m really disappointed in myself.”

Allegations against Coleen first emerged in 2020, but an NBC News report published in June shed new light on the situation as more members of Ballinger’s online fandom came forward.

According to the report, YouTuber Adam McIntyre made a video in 2020 alleging that Ballinger had “formed an inappropriate personal friendship with him while he was between the ages of 13 and 16, which included her sending him lingerie as a joke. He also alleged that Ballinger gave him access to her social media, helped her generate content ideas, and that they exchanged text messages for years.”

Colleen further responded to the allegations in her new video, saying: “Over the last 15 years of my career, there have been moments where I was immature and inappropriate with some of my comedy. And there were times when I did not put enough thought into my fan interactions.

“And because of that behaviour, people got hurt, and I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt anybody, but it’s clear that I did and I feel so terrible about that.”

Colleen ended the video by saying that she plans to continue vlogging on YouTube from now on, and has since posted another two vlogs to her channel.

She continued her apology saying: “I am not a perfect person and there are plenty of things in my past that I wish I could go back and redo and fix and change. I don’t have control over any of that and I don’t have control over the things that people say about me, I only have control over my actions moving forward.

“So I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that I create a positive, kind, inclusive, safe space online with my content. And if you want to be part of my journey online, I would love to have you, and if not I completely understand.

“I do not expect anyone to welcome me back with open arms, I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind with this video. I just wanted to come on here and say that I’m sorry and I wanted to try to show people that it’s possible for someone to grow and learn and be better after making mistakes many years ago.”

Adam McIntyre has responded to Colleen’s new video and has speculated that Colleen only posted her new video because AdSense peaks in November and December, but also because YouTube’s Partner Program keeps accounts monetised if they upload within six months from their previous video.

Google support confirms this, saying: “YouTube does reserve the right, at its discretion, to remove monetisation from channels if a channel is inactive and not uploading or posting Community posts for 6 months or more.”

In his reaction video Adam said: “As a YouTuber, you have six months before YouTube demonetises your YouTube channel, basically for inactivity. So she has come back just within that window, really close to it closing, so she could keep monetisation on her YouTube channel.” Adam also explained in his video that he has still not received a private message or personal apology from Colleen.

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