BONUS: Colleen Ballinger's Troubling Silence Before Picking Up the Ukulele

Transcript

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Testing one, two, three.

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Testing one, two, three.

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What's going on with Colleen Ballinger?

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Or are you asking who is Colleen Ballinger?

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This is a little snippet to help you out.

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What else does she have to do?

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We'll respond to some pretty messy accusations.

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Welcome to the Indestructible PR Podcast, where we use current events and tested media and PR strategies to help prevent or manage a crisis and build an indestructible reputation.

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With the rise of social media, anyone can become a celebrity overnight.

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However, with fame comes increased scrutiny, and internet celebrities are not immune to accusations of bad or inappropriate behavior.

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In recent years, we've seen many internet personalities being accused of everything from grooming to harassment, but in this episode, let's discuss how to respond when faced with disturbing accusations.

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Internet celebrity or not, there's an answer here Full disclosure On social media.

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I was asked frequently what do you think about?

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what's happening with Colleen Ballinger?

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What is going on with Miranda Sings?

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Do you have any thought on Miranda Sings?

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Do you have thoughts on Colleen?

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And every time I saw those messages, i said to myself who is Colleen Ballinger?

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Who is Miranda Sings?

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What is Miranda Sings about?

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Is that a TV show?

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I had no idea.

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I had no idea whatsoever.

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But then someone asked me oh, not just someone.

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Someone named Molly, a fellow Molly asked me on my new PR confidential community.

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She wanted me to respond to the accusations you know facing Colleen Ballinger, and that's what I realized.

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Colleen and Miranda were one in the same.

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I wanted to answer this for Molly on the site, but I also wanted to answer it for Molly Crisis Communicator, because the allegations here, like I said, they're pretty messy and that's putting it mildly.

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This is a very sticky situation for Ballinger But as of the time of recording, she hasn't said anything, she hasn't responded.

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So that's another reason why I wanted to dive into it Now.

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The alternative title that I originally was going with was parasocial relationships.

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You know, the dark side of internet fandoms.

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I find that interesting.

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But that doesn't speak to what I like to do in my mission of helping people.

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Like how can we provide a response?

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How can we work through this?

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When I work through responses on podcasts or when I work through them on TikTok, in three minutes or less, what I'm really doing is training my brain to help me work with them, with my clients, and also, you know, share the findings, you know, with you all.

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Social media is a path to stardom.

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It's democratized.

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Anyone can be famous.

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Anyone can be a star because of social media and the internet.

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Anyone with a camera, with a phone and an internet connection can amass a devoted online following.

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So, whether it's YouTube or Instagram or TikTok, followers can easily engage, you know, with their favorite creators.

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What happens is they build a type of relationship that I had mentioned.

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I talked about in a previous episode.

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It's called parasocial relationships.

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These are one-sided relationships where a fan feels a sense of belonging, a sense of friendship and a sense of intimacy with the creator.

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However, with the accessibility, this intimacy comes with a cost, or can come with a cost.

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Now there was a recent article in Rolling Stone.

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Well, there's many, many recent articles, but the article in Rolling Stone is the one that stood out to me for a couple reasons.

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One, i think, it was in terms of this story.

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It certainly has the most heft to it in terms of journalists' credibility and also search engine optimization.

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There's a lot of discussion on Colleen Ballinger and Miranda Sings online, but she's not quite at the legacy media that today she was going to be talking about it yet, because she's not known by a wide range of people.

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Her audience is a micro audience of YouTube younger, real preteen teen area and her fame came out around the pandemic when so many of these online creators just took off because so many people are at home Now.

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The reporter is CT Jones and they write about culture at Rolling Stone and CT Jones has a lot of bylines on stories having to do, you know, really, with these trending, breaking news stories, a lot of them viral nature.

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Those are the types of stories that I'm drawn to now, because the newsbeat is about the culture of the internet and social media And when things go viral, they get the notice of reporters like CT Jones and other you know culture and media reporters out there.

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That's not to say that other reporters or all reporters are going to cover it, but there just seems to be this line, this invisible line of news, editorial and agenda where underneath the line is where it's mostly a culture, internet trending story, but when you go above, it is when the majors are going to pick it up.

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You're going to see it in news, you're going to see it in New York Times, you know you're going to see it trending more across, you know, across the board, and right now I still think she's a little below the surface because only certain people know who this person is, and not that I am the true marker.

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I'm not the bellwether by any means if someone is popular or not the fact that I had to dig who she is.

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But I can appreciate how popular she is.

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But so that was the alternative title.

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But I really wanted to get behind the headlines of this PR crisis, because this is a headline story in that social media realm, definitely.

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So let's talk about how do you respond when you've been accused of abhorrent behavior or possibly felonious behavior.

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I'm not coming here and I'm not looking at it in a fixer capacity.

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I am not here to help protect people who have harmed other people, but to offer guidance to anyone who finds himself in a situation where they have been accused of something that is quite inflammatory.

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How do you work your way around it?

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and it just so happens I happen to have a request come in just yesterday where someone was accused of, i'll just say, gray behavior and they wanted my help.

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I mean I can't help this person, that's not what I do, but I'm going to send this podcast link to them to say, you know, take a listen and see if this can help.

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But there are people out there who have been falsely accused, and there are people out there who have been accused of some things, but it is painted in a worse light And that's my approach at this.

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So, first, who is calling Ballinger?

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So she has a successful vlog account.

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That's a video like blog mashup, focusing on her life as a performer, a comedian.

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She's now a mother of three.

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Most people know her, however, for the sketch character of Miranda Sings.

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She debuted this character in 2008.

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So that is pre pre pre pandemic.

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But that says something here about calling Ballinger, why she's a little different And this is going to come towards the end And the look.

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If you haven't seen her, i do have links in the show notes, so think high waisted pants.

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She has dark hair.

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It's slick back.

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She has this nasal voice that you heard her sing in the open.

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But her trademark is this bright red lipstick where naturally, she has a sponge just for it so people can buy it.

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That's drawn around her lips, like you know, even outside of it, so it has more of a feeling of vaudeville There.

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It's kind of has this crazy effect.

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This character is very obnoxious, rude, does anything for laughs, makes noises for laughs, absolutely pushes away criticism like pushing away the hate, and what this character wants to do is become famous, like a very meta thought there.

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So, even though she's trying to, as as this Rolling Stone article puts it, that she is trying to become synonymous with cringe, like internet humor, what she's doing is she is taking her sketches And she's mixing in an online persona of of Colleen Ballinger and mixing it with this kind of crazy Miranda Sings, but in the end, she wants to come out and promote kindness.

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She wants to promote positivity because she has a lot of young fans.

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However, like a lot of people online, she has to straddle a place between being super famous online, being a celebrity, but also having the exchange and having the relationship with your fans change dramatically.

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Another key element to Colleen Ballinger is that she is a trained performer, unlike a lot of people who became famous around the pandemic, whether it's tech talk or YouTube, and even before that I mean YouTube famous.

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Certainly before that, they're typically people who might just spend time online and all of a sudden they just catch and they become famous.

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Ballinger is trained in this, so she majored in it in college vocal performance She gave less voice lessons, piano lessons to kids.

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She's performed at Disneyland.

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She was performing in Susie Cole when someone a casting agent asked her to audition to be a Disneyland character performer.

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So she's been in high school musicals, she's been in the parade.

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She's been in Playhouse Disney show, which is such a throwback to me, oh my gosh, when my kids, when I was home with four kids under the age of two, watching Playhouse Disney.

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But here's a clip of her, of Colleen Ballinger performing as Colleen the actress in her Disney days.

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Now, why am I mentioning this, or why am I stressing this?

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It's to frame Ballinger for what she is a performer.

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She's not a person who fell into social media YouTuber fame in that typical ecosystem.

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She's a little bit different.

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So at the height of her popularity, which is around 2016, she was a very well-known face on YouTube.

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So she was peaking at like 10 million subscribers on the Miranda Sings channel alone, and that didn't account for all the other millions of people that were following her and subscribers on her personal channel.

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Then she started to get more connections and endorsements, so she won a Teen Award in 2015.

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She was in a Broadway production of Waitress.

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She was in a video with Ariana Grande.

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She was interviewed by Stephen Colbert, and so you know, this Rolling Stone article is kind of framing her for what she is And she even started her in her own Netflix series based off her catch phase, her famous one of Haters Back Off Ironic, so anyway.

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But like a lot of people online, what they do is they try and people bring other people into the mix So you can banter.

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It's not just you, there's the back and forth.

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So she would bring in her family and her friends.

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So there's her brother, trent Ballinger.

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She has a friend named Corey and the team, so they were a part of the videos and the sketch and the shows and the fan interactions, which is what brings us to this point.

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Now, what the Rolling Stone article focuses on is that Ballinger has been accused of abusing her power and engaging in a toxic social relationship with fans.

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Okay, that's it, that's the accusation.

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But what is happening with the reputation and the word play at hand?

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it's taking a more darker turn Now.

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The past and current members of her team as I mentioned, there was the best friend, corey DeSoto, there was an ex-husband, joshua David Evans, and then I mentioned her brother, trent.

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They were also accused of using and leveraging her fame to access fans and also accused of inappropriately messaging followers, many who were underage.

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So fans have claimed that they were sent in appropriate texts by Trent, that they were asked about their sex lives by Ballinger and, in one case, bullied over the weight by Corey DeSoto, and these types of accusations are the ones that are kind of fueling this moment for Ballinger.

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The hate is still there.

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It's growing.

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There are more news stories, there are now podcasts about it.

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You can go on YouTube and you can see a lot of stories about it as well.

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However, ballinger, as Miranda sings, is on tour.

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It's on a summer tour And she said nothing.

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She is staying silent in the matter, very likely working with a team, probably has lawyers, probably has some type of public relations publicist, crisis management fixer in the mix, or not, or not could be choosing to not do anything.

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But when you have millions at stake, you tend to get outside counsel, and I think the reason why there is outside counsel there is because I think, strategically, the play here is to wait.

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I don't think this is just a decision that she came up with, but it doesn't mean that the cracks aren't showing on tour.

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Here's a reaction to Ballinger or Miranda sings from a recent live show.

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Now she's still as fans.

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People are showing up.

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The show must and is going on.

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But let's talk about how we got here.

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You know where, why?

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okay, i'm gonna do that part over Coming out of the clip.

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So Ballinger still is fans.

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People are showing up.

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The fans are showing up.

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The show must and is going on.

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But before I get into the accusations and her response, let's just talk about how we got here.

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Enter the supporting protagonist to the story.

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His name is Adam McIntyre.

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He was a 10 year old kid.

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He was an Irish kid, but from Brighton, england, or Brighton, as they would say, or, as they would even say, in Brighton Mass, brighton Mass.

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He found something very, very special in YouTubers back then.

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So the story of McIntyre painted that he was the kid who was getting bullied in his adolescence and so he was going home and he was just immersing himself in YouTube and he found Ballinger.

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She became his favorite comedian.

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But what started out as this just interest in a person and this parasocial relationship, it started to evolve into something or devolve into something that was much more problematic.

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It started to move into a close friendship And then McIntyre, now 20, is alleging that it became exploitative, abusive and toxic.

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What McIntyre says is that Ballinger created this persona of responding and interacting with fans, which is what a lot of people online do.

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I mean you look at the success of any live stream.

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I mean live streaming is that interaction People like, getting that firsthand connection with their favorite creators.

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I mean it's parasocial relationship on speed.

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But now he's claiming that she took advantage of him for the purpose of content, and there are other fans who did speak to the reporter for Rolling Stone and they were given the same type of access.

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Rolling Stone did report that.

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They reached out to Ballinger, to Trent, to all the team, but no one has commented on the matter.

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Now to take a step back, just about YouTube culture in general has there been backlash in the past with other peoples?

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I mean, certainly in 2021, james Charles and I was familiar with this one because I have daughters but in 2021, james Charles admitted to texting a 16 year old fan sexually explicit content and the response was they weren't aware that they were underage at the time.

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In January, there was another former YouTube star Onesian, if I'm getting that right whose real name is James Jackson sued by two plaintiffs allegedly alleging that he used his channel to groom them through these personal forms When they were 14,.

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Now James had or Jackson has denied those claims and there's a mediation scheduled later on this year, in 2023.

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Now it's important to note that age of consent in the UK at 16, but in the US generally rages okay.

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Now it's important to note the age of consent in the UK is 16, but in the US it fluctuates.

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It generally ranges between the ages of 16 and 18.

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So that's why it can get a little gray.

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Another example would be Andrew Callahan.

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Now, i featured him in episode 224, analyzing the Apology Statement the Andrew Callahan example I have a link in the show notes.

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The story about Callahan is that he was interacting with women, so his pattern of misconduct was how he treated women who were fans and going out and meeting the women and how he treated them Well.

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They all mobilized on social media and came back at him, and now he is still quiet and we haven't heard much of him.

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And then also recently, the controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

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He was charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking and forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women, along with his brother, tristan and two other associates.

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So you could see here the range of how this culture can really create this YouTube culture, this live streaming parasocial relationship.

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It can get murky, but it can get dark, and it can get dark fast.

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But does that mean Ballinger is on the same level as an Andrew Tate who's accused of human trafficking?

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Well, let's just see.

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There's something more here that could speak to where we are in a social media ecosystem, even though the headlines are saying the word grooming and when people hear the word grooming, it usually ties into another word of what happens with grooming and it's not a good one.

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But the true allegations against Ballinger are not criminal And there's not even a hint that she used her power to start anything sexual with her fans at all.

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What she's being accused of is holding emotional power over them, that she is using her fame to get these young followers to do things, for her to follow her for the purpose of leveraging them for content.

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It's like an emotionally manipulative relationship.

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Now, when you think of a PR crisis and when you think about a PR crisis with a creator, that's slightly different.

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So I wanna just go off into this avenue for a moment.

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These pair of social relationships, for the most part, are just harmless.

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But when there's a lack of rest of rest of rest of reciprocal, reciprocal, reciprocal, reciprocal oh my God.

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Okay, we do that over Now.

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Parasocial relationships may seem harmless, but when there's a lack of Reciprocal Oh my gosh, i have to put this Okay.

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Okay Now, parasocial relationships may seem harmless for the most point.

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But Okay, parasocial relationships may seem harmless for the most part, but when there's a lack of reciprocal communication, the power dynamic between creators and fans can be problematic.

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So fans may blur the lines between reality and fiction, whether they engage with them or whether they ignored or they're ignored by them.

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When the engagement starts, they might project their own fantasies and desires onto creators, while creators can feel this pressure to maintain this certain persona to live up to the fan expectations, because when you do that, you're going to get more views, more streams, more likes, more followers.

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So this type of dynamic can lead to toxic behavior, really on both ends.

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Fans feel entitled to the creator's time, their attention, while the creators may exploit their fans for financial gain.

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That comes from the streaming time, the likes and the follows, and they also like the emotional validation.

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I can attest to this firsthand.

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I do live streams on TikTok.

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I respond to people on TikTok.

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Yes, on the one hand, i feel like I'm being assaulted by commentary because you have to wade through a lot of negativity, but there are people who just he praise on the work that I do and I love that.

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It makes me feel good.

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But I could see how it could easily easily go to someone's head.

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Creators could put themselves on pedestals when that happens.

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That's not me.

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I'm a middle child.

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I will never, ever in my lifetime, think that I'm a special person worthy of a pedestal.

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It's just my nature.

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But in the beginning the early YouTubers did not have real guys.

00:23:14.384 --> 00:23:20.046
But in the beginning the early YouTubers did not have real guidance.

00:23:20.046 --> 00:23:44.644
And that comes from Jamie Cohen, who was a PhD who was quoted in this Rolling Stones story talking about how these YouTube stars indicating that they're mostly white kids fighting against the gatekeepers, in other words, journalism, media, media conglomerates they just hop on YouTube owned by Google, now owned by Alphabet and they can become their own stars.

00:23:44.644 --> 00:23:48.582
They make their own rules, they can do whatever they want.

00:23:49.434 --> 00:24:01.497
But now we have the rise of cancel culture as well, and it's taken on different forms, so it's now exacerbated, i feel, because of these parasocial relationships, the toxicity of them.

00:24:01.497 --> 00:24:04.482
When fans feel betrayed or disappointed.

00:24:04.482 --> 00:24:09.624
They can launch these online campaigns to hold these people accountable with creators.

00:24:09.624 --> 00:24:19.221
So it's like there's creator versus creator, because sometimes a creator isn't necessarily a creator for financial gain, it's just someone who's comfortable putting their face online.

00:24:19.221 --> 00:24:23.482
Thus their creator And those creators love bringing down other people.

00:24:23.482 --> 00:24:26.583
I am noticing this right now.

00:24:26.583 --> 00:24:29.102
I just did a post on this on TikTok.

00:24:29.102 --> 00:24:42.807
This creator versus creator, or the shot in Freud of bringing people down and the pleasure that's derived from it, is creating this breeding ground on the internet social media.

00:24:42.807 --> 00:24:44.798
It's creating all this hate.

00:24:44.798 --> 00:24:50.185
Some of it is from the animosity of it where people don't put their names or their faces on there.

00:24:50.185 --> 00:24:53.201
So it just kind of creates this distance where they can still destroy people.

00:24:53.201 --> 00:24:59.939
They can reduce any type of empathy there because there's not a face there, there's not a name there.

00:24:59.939 --> 00:25:04.825
But also we have this culture and social media of comparison and competition.

00:25:04.825 --> 00:25:11.548
People like to bring people down to leverage their own like and fame and influence.

00:25:11.548 --> 00:25:12.416
They love that.

00:25:13.394 --> 00:25:17.365
On TikTok, i'm going to duet someone and knock them down.

00:25:17.365 --> 00:25:23.866
I'm going to stitch, i'm going to take a couple words out of context and I'm going to blast this person for it.

00:25:23.866 --> 00:25:25.358
I know this firsthand.

00:25:25.358 --> 00:25:26.497
It's happened to me.

00:25:26.497 --> 00:25:29.919
I've seen it, i've watched it, i've analyzed it.

00:25:29.919 --> 00:25:36.784
So when I go through it, i'm watching, i want to see what goes on there, and so I'm noticing that there is a pattern there.

00:25:37.575 --> 00:25:41.585
And when it starts to bubble online with all these creators, that's when the press picks up.

00:25:41.585 --> 00:26:05.046
When the press picks it up when they see that there's a social media feud, they see that there's a potential for a story that can generate attention, controversy, and it can increase the readership, the viewership, the rise of culture and trend reporters, not only as beats, online and digital press, but also just mainstream media as well.

00:26:05.046 --> 00:26:09.284
These feuds provide great narratives that can be sensationalized.

00:26:09.284 --> 00:26:10.426
You're going to see them everywhere.

00:26:10.426 --> 00:26:11.538
They can be amplified.

00:26:11.538 --> 00:26:14.555
Media outlets recognize this type of reporting.

00:26:14.555 --> 00:26:16.741
In many cases, i think, just AI takes over.

00:26:16.741 --> 00:26:21.244
Someone just says, ok, here's a story on TikTok, here's a feud, plops it into AI.

00:26:21.244 --> 00:26:26.521
It's written on AI and smashed onto a website And now you've got a great trending story.

00:26:26.521 --> 00:26:42.943
All of it fuels it, and this is where I think Ballinger got into trouble across of all the things that I'm talking about Now a section of the article, when they talk about McIntyre again, this is who was once a 10-year-old Irish kid living in Brighton, england.

00:26:43.714 --> 00:26:59.098
So they said that they met in 2014 when she had a tour stop in Dublin And at first he said now this is important, and I am quoting directly from the YouTube story written by CT Jones It was very professional.

00:26:59.098 --> 00:27:03.782
Mcintyre says I was a fan and she was a celebrity.

00:27:03.782 --> 00:27:07.902
That's framing a parasocial relationship.

00:27:07.902 --> 00:27:08.944
These are my words.

00:27:08.944 --> 00:27:10.919
Okay, i'm going to do this over.

00:27:10.919 --> 00:27:15.192
I'm going to do this over.

00:27:15.192 --> 00:27:17.351
I'm starting from here's the part where Ballinger got into trouble.

00:27:17.351 --> 00:27:35.194
Now, here's the part that got Ballinger into trouble And I want you to pay attention here, because this is why I believe that PR crises start and this is why, without a doubt, social media PR crises start.

00:27:35.194 --> 00:27:42.895
For this reason, now I am quoting from CT Jones article in Rolling Stone.

00:27:42.895 --> 00:27:55.134
Quote the section of the article the first okay quote the first time McIntyre met Ballinger was in 2014 at a tourist stop in Dublin.

00:27:55.134 --> 00:27:57.329
It was very professional.

00:27:57.329 --> 00:28:00.772
Mcintyre says I was a fan and she was the celebrity.

00:28:00.772 --> 00:28:11.348
Quote that line sets us up for what we're reading as a parasocial relationship fan and celebrity.

00:28:11.944 --> 00:28:19.853
The article goes on to explain how they met again in person in 2016 and how McIntyre felt that the friendship became real.

00:28:19.853 --> 00:28:45.494
The two went from talking through tweets and direct messaging, which now the reporter did see these screenshots and verified the screenshots but also it crept into an area where they would discuss her content as well as more serious matters like the online haters and her impending divorce from then husband, joshua David Evans.

00:28:45.494 --> 00:28:46.497
So she's remarried now.

00:28:46.497 --> 00:28:52.896
So at that time, mcintyre was 14, ballinger was 29.

00:28:52.896 --> 00:28:56.050
Now I'm going to quote again from the story.

00:28:56.050 --> 00:29:04.272
This is important As a matter of fact, i'm going to put this into a keynote that I'm giving in a week, in a week, two weeks, next week, two weeks.

00:29:04.272 --> 00:29:09.855
I'm putting this in here because this this is the quote that explains it.

00:29:09.855 --> 00:29:14.612
Here we go, quote I was looking at it like this golden opportunity of trust.

00:29:14.612 --> 00:29:23.770
Mcintyre says and I in the moment really didn't care if it was morally right or wrong, because I was just grateful that she was talking to me and not anyone else.

00:29:23.770 --> 00:29:25.134
End quote.

00:29:26.046 --> 00:29:33.346
Again, it's a parasocial relationship that turned into a friendship, another type of relationship.

00:29:33.346 --> 00:29:38.276
But here is where we are noticing that something is faltering.

00:29:38.276 --> 00:29:44.876
Mcintyre is wavering on the most important characteristic in a reputation and that is trust.

00:29:44.876 --> 00:29:48.794
The word trust is straight from that quote.

00:29:48.794 --> 00:29:56.714
If you are listening to my podcast or if you follow me on social media, you have heard me say this time and time again about trust and the importance of it.

00:29:56.714 --> 00:30:00.693
The moment trust waivers is the moment you're on the precipice of a potential PR crisis.

00:30:00.693 --> 00:30:05.355
Trust is the cornerstone of a brand's reputation, a person's reputation.

00:30:05.355 --> 00:30:10.515
When it crumbles, a PR crisis looms on the horizon.

00:30:10.515 --> 00:30:15.154
Rebuilding trust becomes a vital PR tool in the midst of a crisis.

00:30:15.154 --> 00:30:18.972
It helps you restore the faith in that brand or in that person.

00:30:18.972 --> 00:30:26.336
They need to recapture integrity, and the way to do that is by restoring trust.

00:30:26.336 --> 00:30:28.648
When it waivers, boom.

00:30:28.648 --> 00:30:30.212
You're in your PR crisis.

00:30:30.212 --> 00:30:40.029
Take a listen to what it sounds like straight from McIntyre Now.

00:30:40.069 --> 00:30:45.444
If you're listening to that clip, this also delves into an area that I also talk about.

00:30:45.444 --> 00:30:52.128
Which also goes hand in hand with this lack of trust is that a PR crisis is always about the victim.

00:30:52.128 --> 00:30:56.434
Always, there is always a victim.

00:30:56.434 --> 00:31:03.597
I tell this to my clients all the time find your victim and you've found the source of your crisis.

00:31:03.597 --> 00:31:05.871
My clients all the time.

00:31:05.871 --> 00:31:07.315
They don't know what I'm talking about.

00:31:07.315 --> 00:31:11.390
They think it's odd because, like most people, and they hear the term victim, they think of someone who's been assaulted.

00:31:11.390 --> 00:31:13.612
They think of someone who's been hurt or run over by a car.

00:31:13.612 --> 00:31:15.890
That's emotionally how they feel.

00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:22.710
Someone feels wronged, someone was let down, someone was disappointed.

00:31:22.710 --> 00:31:25.871
The erosion of trust begins.

00:31:27.505 --> 00:31:33.096
The greatest threat to any business or organization is decision-created victims.

00:31:33.096 --> 00:31:40.988
A brand, a person, a company, an organization made a decision to do or say something that created a victim.

00:31:40.988 --> 00:31:44.814
Someone was hurt, either internal or external.

00:31:44.814 --> 00:31:58.397
Now, internal employees, former employees, but also fans who broke through the fourth wall, like McIntyre who went from a fan and outside fan to in the inner circle, still a fan.

00:31:58.397 --> 00:32:08.539
Then there's the external People who are triggered by something that the person has done and it could be triggered by race or ableism or abuse.

00:32:08.539 --> 00:32:25.814
They will lash out as well If they feel a creator is being racist or a creator is shaming people based on race or ableism some type of problem that they relate to.

00:32:25.814 --> 00:32:28.578
They're going to be victimized.

00:32:29.224 --> 00:32:33.986
When the trigger happens is when a post happens and when the mobilization happens on social media.

00:32:33.986 --> 00:32:43.313
When that starts, it almost creates a viral tsunami that's aided by an algorithm and shares and reposts and retweets and duets and stitches on TikTok.

00:32:43.313 --> 00:32:44.527
It gets deadly.

00:32:44.527 --> 00:32:50.093
Peer crisis about the victim, poor response prolongs it.

00:32:50.093 --> 00:32:54.132
If there's denial, arrogance or ignoring it.

00:32:54.132 --> 00:32:56.076
It only exacerbates the problem.

00:32:56.076 --> 00:32:57.307
Back to Ballinger.

00:32:58.730 --> 00:33:01.856
When a victim needs closure, they also want to hit back.

00:33:01.856 --> 00:33:03.569
That is what's happening with Ballinger.

00:33:03.569 --> 00:33:06.593
Adam McIntyre is fighting back.

00:33:06.593 --> 00:33:21.329
Mcintyre is fighting back online, which is a very, very powerful place with powerful tools, video and the ability to hit the algorithm and shares Many online activists and these online vigilantes.

00:33:21.329 --> 00:33:29.993
They usually want retribution of some sign and many online activists and these social media vigilantes.

00:33:29.993 --> 00:33:31.196
They want retribution.

00:33:31.196 --> 00:33:33.833
They want to see people go down.

00:33:33.833 --> 00:33:38.952
They want to watch all the posts Yes, i believe so much of it is shot before it.

00:33:38.952 --> 00:33:40.749
They want to see the destruction.

00:33:43.105 --> 00:33:45.652
Here's an example of a tweet from someone who used to work for Ballinger.

00:33:45.652 --> 00:33:53.896
This is a case where he was reacting to a bit from her live show.

00:33:53.896 --> 00:34:04.273
I want you to Okay This idea of wanting closure and wanting to hit back.

00:34:04.273 --> 00:34:06.130
Here's an example back to Ballinger.

00:34:06.130 --> 00:34:10.715
She had an employee or someone who used to work on tour with her.

00:34:10.715 --> 00:34:14.467
I didn't know his status as an employee or contracted employee, but his name is Johnny Sylvester.

00:34:14.467 --> 00:34:18.494
He's come out and talked about his experience with her.

00:34:18.494 --> 00:34:23.094
He made a tweet referring to something that he saw on stage.

00:34:23.094 --> 00:34:28.132
Before I read the tweet, take a listen to what's happening on stage.

00:34:28.132 --> 00:34:39.612
The voice that you heard was her husband, eric, instead of bringing up someone from an audience.

00:34:39.612 --> 00:34:54.855
Now the voice that you heard interacting with Ballinger or Miranda Sings the voice that you heard interacting with Ballinger, who is playing Miranda Sings, is her husband, eric.

00:34:54.855 --> 00:34:56.369
They're going back and forth.

00:34:56.369 --> 00:35:03.217
Now Johnny Sylvester, used to work with Colleen, tweeted this statement.

00:35:03.606 --> 00:35:09.853
I'm actually very bothered by Eric laughing like a giddy school girl after Colleen made that tasteless joke referring to the situation last night.

00:35:09.853 --> 00:35:13.393
It makes me believe they're making jokes like that behind the scenes as well.

00:35:13.393 --> 00:35:16.273
No remorse or any regard for other people.

00:35:16.273 --> 00:35:17.106
Gross.

00:35:17.106 --> 00:35:25.418
This is in response to the lack of response by Ballinger on this issue of grooming McIntyre.

00:35:25.418 --> 00:35:30.695
This is also an example of when people start to mobilize and pile on.

00:35:30.695 --> 00:35:34.170
One could assume this is where my head goes.

00:35:34.170 --> 00:35:40.891
Is that Johnny Sylvester his relationship with Ballinger soured for some reason?

00:35:40.891 --> 00:35:46.474
This is when I put my detective hat on in my job.

00:35:46.474 --> 00:35:47.567
I'm always looking.

00:35:47.567 --> 00:35:51.335
When I work with clients, i'm always trying to identify who the victims are.

00:35:51.335 --> 00:35:54.514
I'm always trying to identify moles within the building.

00:35:54.514 --> 00:36:00.557
I'm always trying to figure out what is behind the motives of people who have an agenda to bring people down.

00:36:00.557 --> 00:36:04.735
Now, in this case we don't know, or maybe it is out there and I just didn't find it.

00:36:04.735 --> 00:36:10.329
Maybe you all can share with me, but I don't know the reason why Johnny Sylvester left Colleen Ballinger.

00:36:10.329 --> 00:36:19.710
But reading that tweet tells me it's a sign of retribution, because he's making an assumption here about that.

00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:21.496
They're making jokes about it behind the scenes.

00:36:21.496 --> 00:36:23.811
He doesn't know that because he's not there anymore.

00:36:23.811 --> 00:36:27.492
This is that retribution in action.

00:36:28.264 --> 00:36:34.911
When people inject like this into social media, it still fuels the crisis because it's like oh, now look at someone who's worked with her, who's done that.

00:36:34.911 --> 00:36:36.746
Victims what they want.

00:36:36.746 --> 00:36:39.855
They want vindication, they want validation, they want visibility.

00:36:39.855 --> 00:36:47.092
They want people to see that they've been wronged, unless it's like a secret war or a secret campaign that's being waged.

00:36:47.092 --> 00:36:48.949
For the most part, they want to be out in the open.

00:36:48.949 --> 00:36:54.074
They need to be a face of the other side.

00:36:54.074 --> 00:36:55.969
Sometimes they want an apology.

00:36:55.969 --> 00:36:58.612
Sometimes an admission of guilt is enough.

00:36:58.612 --> 00:37:03.909
Sometimes a creator just coming online and saying I'm sorry is enough to appease them, but sometimes it's not.

00:37:03.909 --> 00:37:06.269
What do you do in the wake?

00:37:06.269 --> 00:37:16.248
All right, now, what do we do when there's been an accusation of abhorrent behavior like what Ballinger is dealing with?

00:37:16.248 --> 00:37:19.289
Before I get into that response.

00:37:19.509 --> 00:37:25.054
I just want to inject here this discovery phase that I meant about the media ecosystem.

00:37:25.054 --> 00:37:33.753
I had mentioned it earlier, but I feel that the parasocial relationship is what really brought on this PR crisis.

00:37:33.753 --> 00:37:48.833
What starts off as gradual, these offhanded interests can quickly bring people into the fold When you have a close relationship with them and they feel that they've been abused or they've been wronged, they're going to seek retribution.

00:37:48.833 --> 00:37:55.195
Also, the media, the trend reporters they're looking for these types of stories.

00:37:55.195 --> 00:37:59.432
They're looking for again.

00:37:59.432 --> 00:38:00.775
They want the views.

00:38:00.775 --> 00:38:03.791
The press They want the story as well.

00:38:03.791 --> 00:38:12.237
The online creator they want Okay, all right.

00:38:12.237 --> 00:38:16.730
Okay, i'm going to go back and start over on this piece.

00:38:18.684 --> 00:38:20.951
Okay, so now let's start working towards the response.

00:38:20.951 --> 00:38:24.405
What should someone do when they've been accused of abhorrent behavior?

00:38:24.405 --> 00:38:25.865
How do you start to rebuild that trust?

00:38:25.865 --> 00:38:31.152
I'm injecting this first into my indestructible PR framework.

00:38:31.152 --> 00:38:33.744
You've heard me mention it before.

00:38:33.744 --> 00:38:35.485
Own it, explain it, promise it.

00:38:35.485 --> 00:38:42.389
But before we get into the response, this is new to 2020, this is new to 2023.

00:38:42.389 --> 00:38:45.809
This is new in my stable of.

00:38:45.809 --> 00:38:50.509
This is new in 2023.

00:38:50.740 --> 00:38:58.028
I have added this to my toolkit for anyone who is going through any type of a crisis, and this is what I think Ballinger is doing.

00:38:58.028 --> 00:39:01.628
You need to go through a discovery phase first.

00:39:01.628 --> 00:39:07.329
Okay, i mean, i do that anyway with clients, obviously, but anyone who's being called out on social media first.

00:39:07.329 --> 00:39:12.121
You need to just assess the media First.

00:39:12.121 --> 00:39:15.309
You just need to assess the media ecosystem here.

00:39:15.309 --> 00:39:18.588
Okay, first figure out the parasocial relationships.

00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:28.427
Do you have someone who started out as a gradual fan and then they quickly lost interest, perhaps when they were ignored or something happened to them?

00:39:28.427 --> 00:39:37.242
Is it someone who's truly been victimized by you or is it someone trying to leverage the fame to bring you down?

00:39:37.242 --> 00:39:41.829
Are they someone who's trying to grow their brand for profit?

00:39:41.829 --> 00:39:52.286
Not that it matters I'm not saying yes or no but this matters in how you're gonna respond, because you wanna know where the response lives and what type of ecosystem.

00:39:52.286 --> 00:40:02.347
Are you being accused by someone that's also a brand, someone that has a lot of followers, someone that has some heft to them online?

00:40:02.347 --> 00:40:05.085
Has the press picked up on it yet?

00:40:05.085 --> 00:40:06.422
Is it still?

00:40:06.422 --> 00:40:15.347
if so, is it still in that kind of culture trend reporter phase where they're just reporting on the nature of the story, or are you already hitting the big time?

00:40:15.347 --> 00:40:16.644
Are you in the Daily Mail?

00:40:16.644 --> 00:40:17.804
Are you in the New York Post?

00:40:17.804 --> 00:40:19.905
Are you in the Washington Post?

00:40:19.905 --> 00:40:23.548
Is local television, national television, covering it?

00:40:23.548 --> 00:40:37.806
You have to see where you lie in all of that And, as it relates to creators, you really have to look at yourself and figure out what you did wrong and what you need to change.

00:40:38.179 --> 00:40:43.748
Okay, once you've done all that, now we're gonna start to analyze the final thing.

00:40:43.748 --> 00:40:47.246
It's just analyze the demographic, the values, the motivation of this audience.

00:40:47.246 --> 00:40:50.688
Sometimes this audience is really just teaching you a lesson.

00:40:50.688 --> 00:40:58.188
You know, in many cases you're gonna see it happen in the racial realm Someone is going to be accused of white privilege.

00:40:58.188 --> 00:41:00.347
When that happens, you really have to reflect on that.

00:41:00.347 --> 00:41:04.903
If you're white and you've been accused of this, hmm, are they right?

00:41:04.903 --> 00:41:06.364
Like, is there any truth to this?

00:41:06.364 --> 00:41:10.425
It's gonna set your baseline for where you're coming from and what you need to admit to.

00:41:10.425 --> 00:41:14.389
You have to clearly, clearly, learn from that.

00:41:14.389 --> 00:41:16.940
Okay, you don't wanna completely dismiss it, all right.

00:41:16.940 --> 00:41:23.869
So once you have done all of that, let's now start working towards that response.

00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:36.050

BONUS: Colleen Ballinger's Troubling Silence Before Picking Up the Ukulele

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