Colleen Ballinger: YouTube star writes song to respond to accusing fans

YouTube star Colleen Ballinger has addressed accusations of toxic relationships with fans by posting a video in which she defends herself in a song while playing the ukulele.

The US creator found fame with her Miranda Sings character from 2008.

Last week, Rolling Stone reported that dozens of fans said they had been "bullied, intimidated, and embarrassed by Ballinger and members of her team".

In her video, she said people had been saying things that "aren't quite true".

Five former fans told Rolling Stone about being befriended by Ballinger, leading to interactions they told the magazine were "toxic, exploitative, and hurtful", including sending sexually suggestive messages and making jokes at their expense.

Posting her 10-minute song in response, Ballinger accepted that she "used to message my fans, but not in a creepy way like a lot of you are trying to suggest", adding: "It was more of a loser kind of way."

She sang: "In the beginning of my career I didn't really understand that maybe there should be some boundaries there. There were times in the DMs when I would overshare details of my life, which was really weird of me.

"I haven't done that for years, you see, because I changed my behaviour and I took accountability."

Ballinger has 8.6 million subscribers and almost two billion views on YouTube, and 8.1 million followers on Instagram.

In the chorus, she sang that those who had aired grievances had boarded the "toxic gossip train", which is hurtling "down the tracks of misinformation", and she "won't survive in the crash".

She said their "goal is to ruin the life of the person you despise", and "it doesn't matter that these things aren't true".

She continued that everyone now believes she is "the type of person who manipulates and abuses children".

"So I just wanted to say the only thing I've ever groomed is my two Persian cats. I'm not a groomer. I'm just a loser who didn't understand I shouldn't respond to fans. And I'm not a predator even though a lot of you think so."

She added that "sometimes people can make a mistake and it doesn't make them a horrible person".

However, her response, and the unconventional nature of a musical video, did not appease her following. Many on social media criticised and ridiculed its apparent flippancy and lack of sincerity.