Redeem now - Trisha Paytas responded to allegations about Colleen Ballinger's relationships with young fans.
- Ballinger had sent Paytas' NSFW OnlyFans photos to fans and made fun of her, she said.
- Ballinger denied allegations of grooming via a ukulele song last week.
YouTuber Trisha Paytas has responded to the allegations against her podcast cohost Colleen Ballinger.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.In a 21-minute video, Paytas said she had learned Ballinger had sent Paytas' NSFW OnlyFans photos to young fans without her permission, and made fun of her body.
Ballinger responded to the allegations of inappropriate behavior with underage fans with a 10-minute YouTube video titled "hi." on Wednesday.
Looking to the camera, Ballinger, 36, started strumming a ukulele and sang a song addressing former fans who came forward and said she had interacted with them in ways that now made them feel uncomfortable, per the Huffington Post.
Other accusations include Ballinger sending lingerie, talking about sex in group chats, and behavior in stage shows that one fan said felt violating.
Ballinger, who is best known for her eccentric, kooky character Miranda Sings, has been a content creator since 2008.
Sings, with her bad makeup and childish nature, catapulted Ballinger to fame. She appeared on late-night talk shows, got her own Netflix series, performed on Broadway, and published two books.
Paytas, also a YouTube veteran, said she had known Ballinger for a number of years, and they had grown close. She launched a podcast with Ballinger earlier this year, and said she had been trying to remain out of controversy and stay in her own lane recently, but "this is beyond drama."
She said she had very strong feelings about adults interacting with minors, partly due to her own past trauma, and had been feeling sick since hearing the stories of Ballinger's former fans.
"I wasn't aware of these most recent things that are coming out," she said. "Everyone knows I have a very, very, very firm stance on talking to anyone underage, platonic or not. I've always been very, very firm with this that I think it's inappropriate."
Paytas said Ballinger had been someone she "really cared about," and she believed people can change and grow if they take accountability. But when Ballinger's video came out, she said she was "shocked."
"I was just shocked to say the last that she didn't at least acknowledge the stuff her own fans were saying, how they felt, to brush it over the way she did," she said
Paytas said she had been keeping in touch with Ballinger when the wave of allegations hit in June, because with her own controversial past, she knew how it felt to be canceled. But when she saw text messages between Ballinger and fans that leaked to Twitter this week, and found out Ballinger had sent them nude photos of Paytas from her OnlyFans account, that was something she "couldn't take lightly."
One former fan, YouTuber Adam McIntyre, claimed he was 14 or 15 when he received the same photos from Ballinger. Paytas said if this was true, sending sexually explicit photos to minors was "disgusting" and "above all else, illegal."
"I do not condone at all, sending unsolicited nudes to anyone of anybody, sex worker or not," Paytas said. "Using someone's nudes as a way to hurt them, make fun of them, make light of them, be mean, is the lowest form of human, the lowest form of intelligence, I think that's so inhumane, I think that's so disgusting for anyone."
Paytas said she wasn't humiliated for herself, and stressed there is already a great deal of stigma on sex workers for how they earn a living. Rather, she said in these situations she is embarrassed for the person sending the photos.
"I get made fun of all the time for my body, my nudes," she said. "Hearing all that horrible stuff about my body just being messed up or disgusting, it's a lot. 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 vulnerable thing."
She added that Ballinger sending these photos wasn't a one time thing, but there were multiple instances.
"These weren't a long time ago," she said. "This is someone well into their 30s who just gave birth, sending nudes. And a month prior, I was in her house, meeting her child, her newborn and doing a Mukbang with her."
Paytas said she had spoken to Ballinger about the allegations a couple of weeks ago, and she had told her they were "lies" and she had been "taken out of context."
"As I was her friend, and I knew her as a person, I was trusting her I guess," Paytas said. "Because I mean, overall, who do you trust, this person you know in real life, or people you don't know anything about?"
When Paytas saw the leaked messages, she said she felt "triggered" and hurt.
"It's pretty barbaric, it's pretty misogynistic," she said. "And it is downright cruel. It's a low, low level of a person to say that stuff."
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