A popular comedian who got her start on YouTube apologized after being accused of mocking “African American Vernacular English” in a tweet intended to poke fun at TikTok moms.
Colleen Ballinger produces comedic videos under the persona “Miranda Sings,” but she was forced to sing an apologetic tune after trying to make an innocuous joke.
“Yo BRUH tiktok so lit no cap i’m gonna yeet over there so fast low key. if i don’t get on fyp i’ll be big mad and big yikes like that’s high key not straight fire and so sus. bet. but low key fr tiktok is so lit and GOAT,” she tweeted from her Miranda Sings account.
What might read as a bizarre string of nonsensical words and phrases to many was excoriated on social media as racially insensitive.
“I know you thought you were just mocking tiktok kids, but you’re actually mocking AAVE. Please delete this,” responded one offended critic.
Ballinger deleted the tweet and responded to the criticism.
“I feel so stupid. I was trying to sound like an awkward mom who uses gen z slang so I googled ‘gen z slang’ & used all the words that popped up,” Ballinger tweeted to the critic.
“I should have done more research & realized that the words I used were actually AAVE. I deleted it & I am so sorry,” she added.
Another critic offered a lengthy explanation of what AAVE is and why non-black people should not use it on social media or anywhere else.
“African American Vernacular English is a linguistic code, an important aspect of Black culture, and a way of speaking that has its own grammatical structure, rules, and words. When non-Black people use AAVE, it is (more than often) invasive, disrespectful, inappropriate, and uncomfortable,” the lengthy polemic read in part.
“Ultimately, the way Black people speak is not a punchline. It is not a meme. It is not a way to appear cooler. It is not a way to be more aggressive. African American Vernacular English has cultural significance to the Black community, and it should be respected,” the post continued. “Until the system that exploits Black culture is dismantled, Black people reserve every right to be upset about the blatant disrespect, misuse, and abuse of AAVE.”
Ballinger responded, “thank you for this.”
This is not the first time Ballinger apologized to critics who called her racially insensitive. In a previous incident she apologized for a video that made fun of Hispanics by employing racial stereotypes.
Here’s more about her previous politically incorrect scrapes:
YouTuber Colleen Ballinger Apologizes for Racist Remarks | E! News
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Are there actually parents in the USA supporting and condoning a separate language, simply based on race, when it’s use in the business world won’t be tolerated for a nanosecond? Do people really wish to distinguish themselves from the country’s official language, simply to emphasize their race, to the exclusion of all other races? Wouldn’t that be the racism they purport to abhor?