Colleen Ballinger's legal team sends Ethan Klein a cease and desist order

17 July 2023, 18:00

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By Katie Louise Smith

"I was very upfront in saying, it's a strong possibility that she's not even responsible for this so I feel like I was fairly gracious and fairly truthful in terms of the potentiality that this was actually her."

Ethan Klein and H3H3 Productions have just been issued a cease and desist letter from Colleen Ballinger's legal team.

It all started when Ethan received a copyright claim on H3's recent podcast episode where they analysed Colleen's ukulele video. In the screenshot Ethan shared on social media, the claim showed that he was now sharing revenue with the "music rights holders" and that the claim was issued by CD Baby CO "on behalf of Colleen Ballinger".

After the tweet went viral, people later discovered that 'Toxic Gossip Train' had found its way onto Apple Music and iTunes. Colleen's legal team then issued a response, categorically denying any involvement from Colleen and clarifying that she did not monetise the song in any way.

Ethan has now been sent a legal order from Colleen's team asking him to clarify these details to his audience. But in a wild turn of events, Ethan only found out about it because the email was apparently sent to an H3 fan account first.

On July 13th, Ethan tweeted a screenshot from an H3 fan account (Ethan's Basement) who had allegedly been sent a cease and desist letter from Colleen's legal team asking for Mr. Klein.

"I’m assuming this is fake until I see it," Ethan wrote in the tweet. "I can’t imagine her lawyers would be dumb enough to send it to a fan channel. But if it is real… let’s gooooooo!"

Ethan later confirmed that it was in fact real, and that after looking for it in all of his inboxes, he had also eventually received the letter himself, which had been sent to him the night before he livestreamed his reaction.

In the livestream, Ethan shared the contents of the cease and desist letter with fans.

While discussing the cease and desist order, Ethan says: "The thrust of the letter is: they want us to clarify that she did not upload and claim the music. Now what I find compelling about this is that they don't care about all the other stuff, it's just the CD Baby shit... that was too far."

Despite the language of his initial tweet appearing to place the blame on Colleen ("Colleen Ballinger uploaded Toxic Gossip Train to CD Baby and is claiming us"), Ethan maintains that he did not explicitly say that Colleen was behind the the whole thing and that he had publicly questioned whether it was really her.

He also later tweeted: "Colleen, or whoever was impersonating her, dropped the claim."

"I was very upfront in saying, it's a strong possibility that she's not even responsible for this so I feel like I was fairly gracious and fairly truthful in terms of the potentiality that this was actually her," he said. "And frankly, I want the truth too, I don't want her blamed for something she didn't do."

Ethan goes to say that the video is "technically a retraction," adding: "I'm happy to put this out there in support of that notion. I don't believe she did. As I've said from the beginning, I've been very vocal about that. I believe you guys."

He also called for proof of some correspondence with CD Baby where they can explain what actually happened and who actually claimed the song.

Colleen Ballinger's Lawyer Sent Me A Cease & Desist - After Dark #111

Colleen's reps issued a statement to BuzzFeed regarding the matter last week (July 12), writing: "Ms. Ballinger did not upload the song or video to Apple Music or to any other streaming platform for sale or for any other purpose. We don’t know how it got published on those platforms."

"It was done without Ms. Ballinger’s knowledge or authorization, and we have taken measures to have it removed. Likewise, Ms. Ballinger has not issued any copyright infringement claims on videos featuring the song, nor has she monetized the video."

Ethan's copyright claim has now been dropped and the song has been removed from Apple Music and iTunes.

Read more about Colleen Ballinger here:

• Colleen Ballinger cancels her entire tour amid inappropriate behaviour allegations
• Colleen Ballinger called out over "inappropriate" videos with 13-year-old JoJo Siwa
• Trisha Paytas slams Colleen Ballinger for mocking and sharing her nudes in leaked texts
• Colleen Ballinger slammed for "fart joke" comment in ukulele 'apology' video by former fan
• Colleen Ballinger's bizarre ukulele 'apology' video sparks memes and criticism

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