The mother of Piper Rockelle, a 15-year-old YouTube star from the United States, has been accused of sexual abuse and exploitation by 11 minors. The teens often appeared in videos of Rockelle shot by her mother, Tiffany Smith.
As a result, they have filed a complaint against her, demanding more than 20 million euros. The trial will start this week.
Piper Rockelle has been active on YouTube since she was 8 years old. What started very lucratively quickly became a successful YouTube channel with almost 11 million subscribers. The videos of the now 15-year-old Rockelle are full of colour, glitter and games. She often rounds up other young YouTube stars and has a group she calls “the squad” around her.
“The squad” now gives us a look behind the scenes and shows that making YouTube videos is not always innocent. The 11 members of “the squad”, including 2 of Rockelle’s nieces, have filed a complaint against Rockelle’s mother, Tiffany Smith, for allegedly exploiting the children and even sexually and emotionally abusing them.
The complaint was filed in early 2022, and the trial will start this week. The 147-page indictment describes in detail how Smith treated the children. For example, it says she touched some minors in inappropriate places, such as the buttocks, upper legs and pubic area. She would also often make inappropriate comments or ask questions about the genitals of the minors. In addition, she allegedly forced the children into a romantic relationship with each other for the videos, and she has been described as a “mean control freak”.
“As children, they often had no awareness of the inappropriate behaviour,” the mother of one of the 11 minors told NBC News. “But in the meantime, they are older and understand the traumas they have suffered. So hearing all those things all the time and having to do all those things in front of the camera, they carry that with them.”
The complaint not only read how Smith allegedly emotionally and sexually abused the children but also described how she never gave the YouTubers their share of the proceeds from the videos. As a result, none of the 11 YouTubers would ever have received compensation, while Rockelle would bring her YouTube channel at least $4 million a year in advertising revenue alone.