Toxic Gossip Train, the song written by YouTuber Colleen Ballinger for one of her recent videos where she responded to allegations about inappropriate interactions with underage fans, was used to copystrike videos of people reacting to it.
The song featured in one of Colleen’s blogs, titled “hi”, where she strongly denied allegations of grooming and making fans feel uncomfortable during events.
The video, which saw her sing about “manipulation station”, was widely ridiculed for mocking the allegations and making light of a very serious situation.
“Toxic Gossip Train” apology video released as official song
However, “Toxic Gossip Train” has now been released as a full song, and what’s more, it’s being used to copyright claim some of the most notable commentaries on the whole situation.
YouTube’s policy on using music in videos means that the revenue being made from H3H3’s reaction is being split with the person who holds the rights to the music being used. In this case, that person is Colleen.
Popular YouTuber Ethan Klein, also known as H3H3, posted the news to Twitter, with screenshots showing that the song has been uploaded to the CD Baby music streaming site. The song also has a dedicated page on the Genius lyrics site.
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This technically means that Colleen Ballinger will be profiting off of the attention that her video has received, which is a silver lining to a very dark cloud considering how many people have ridiculed the video.
However, it’s now been confirmed to Pop Crave by Colleen’s legal reps that she was not the one to upload her 10-minute ukelele song “Toxic Gossip Train” to iTunes and Apple Music. The song has now been removed from the platforms.
Colleen Ballinger's legal reps tell Pop Crave that Ballinger did not upload her 10-minute ukelele song “Toxic Gossip Train” to iTunes and Apple Music. The song, which was attached to her official profile, has now been removed. pic.twitter.com/OJcy4CBmGW
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 11, 2023
Allegations first surfaced in 2020, when former fan Adam McIntyre first posted a video where he accused Ballinger of grooming. However, this video was quickly filled with other fans of Ballinger coming to her defense.
Because of this, the hype regarding the video soon died down and was forgotten about – until McIntyre released another video talking about Ballinger on June 4, 2023.
For a full breakdown of the Colleen Ballinger controversy and the backlash to her video, check out our full explainer here.