Mom of teen YouTube star accused of abusing young content creators in $22M civil case

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By David Propper - New York Post


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The mother of a teen YouTube sensation was accused of sexually, physically and emotionally abusing nearly a dozen of her daughter’s young co-creators and is set to face her alleged victims in court later this year.

Tiffany Smith, whose daughter is 15-year-old YouTuber Piper Rockelle, was sued last year by the 11 young content creators over the alleged abuse as well as an apparent lack of compensation for their work.

Smith is accused of “harassment, molestation and abuse,” according to the complaint filed in January 2022. The civil trial had been scheduled to start in Los Angeles on Monday, but was pushed off to November 6 several months ago, plaintiff attorney Matt Sarelson told The Post.

The momager earned a reputation as a “mean-spirited control freak” whose interactions with the content creators “were not only sexually inappropriate and confrontational, but often reprehensible and even illegal,” the suit alleges.

In total, the plaintiffs — who are all former members of the “Piper Squad” and starred on her daughter’s YouTube channel — are seeking at least $22 million in damages from Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who is also involved in the production of Piper’s channel.

The complaint accuses Smith of making shocking remarks about the teens’ genitalia, including reportedly asking one content maker how long his penis was. She also allegedly told another creator she was flat-chested.

The mother of a teen YouTube sensation was accused of sexually, physically and emotionally abusing nearly a dozen of her daughter’s young co-creators and is set to face her alleged victims in court later this year.

Tiffany Smith, whose daughter is 15-year-old YouTuber Piper Rockelle, was sued last year by the 11 young content creators over the alleged abuse as well as an apparent lack of compensation for their work.

Smith is accused of “harassment, molestation and abuse,” according to the complaint filed in January 2022. The civil trial had been scheduled to start in Los Angeles on Monday, but was pushed off to November 6 several months ago, plaintiff attorney Matt Sarelson told The Post.

The momager earned a reputation as a “mean-spirited control freak” whose interactions with the content creators “were not only sexually inappropriate and confrontational, but often reprehensible and even illegal,” the suit alleges.

In total, the plaintiffs — who are all former members of the “Piper Squad” and starred on her daughter’s YouTube channel — are seeking at least $22 million in damages from Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who is also involved in the production of Piper’s channel.

The complaint accuses Smith of making shocking remarks about the teens’ genitalia, including reportedly asking one content maker how long his penis was. She also allegedly told another creator she was flat-chested.

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In another disturbing instance, the complaint claims Smith mailed an unknown man her daughter’s underwear because “old men like to smell this stuff,” she allegedly told one of the plaintiffs.

She also was accused of touching the legs, thighs and buttocks of the children inappropriately, and encouraging the teens to be sexually aggressive during video shoots to make the staged romantic connection look more real, the lawsuit states.

The pretend romantic crushes that the young creators were supposed to have on each other allegedly caused online bullying, NBC News reported.

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“I just want peace back with my kids,” Ashley Anne-Rock Smith told the outlet. Her two daughters are cousins of Rockelle and appeared in nearly 100 of her videos.

The plaintiffs were never compensated by Smith for their likeness, which was used to promote Piper’s content, the lawsuit alleges. However, they acknowledged that compensation wasn’t promised beforehand.

When nine of the content creators left “Piper’s Squad,” their own YouTube channels got fewer clicks and subscribers, according to the suit. The plaintiffs claimed Smith and her boyfriend falsely flagged their videos as inappropriate or embedded their content on porn sites so it was restricted on YouTube.

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As a result, they all missed out on collecting more revenue, the suit says.

Smith countersued for $30 million in July, claiming the plaintiffs’ mothers were working together to extort money by making up lies about alleged sexual abuse, but she dropped it shortly after, NBC News reported.

One of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs reportedly called Smith’s claims “baseless.”

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Claire Rocksmith attends the premiere party For “Sister Rules” held at Talaria Private Theater on March 10.

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Sawyer Sharbino attends the Zigazoo launch party on March 25.

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Donald Dougher attends Wish.com’s Pink Prom at Wish House on July 09, 2021.

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Connor Cain attends Brooklyn Queen’s Sweet 16 held at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on June 24, 2021.

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Walker Bryant attends the sweet 16th Birthday Party for Sawyer Sharbino at Brilliant Screen Studios on March 5, 2022.

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Sophie Fergi attends YouTube Shorts Creator Day at Spruce Goose Hanger on March 21.

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Ayden Mekus attends the Alexis Marrero “Wake Me Up” Music Release Party held at The Industry Loft Space on April 15.

Piper was only 9 years old when she became an online sensation.

Her channel, which has more than 10 million subscribers, was demonetized in February 2022 after Business Insider reached out to YouTube about the numerous allegations against Smith and Hill.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Selling underwear :shock:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Selling underwear :shock:

Old men like to smell this stuff :dunno:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Did she send it to Biden?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:shock:

:rofl:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Rebecca Rosenberg | Fox News


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YouTube sensation Piper Rockelle's mom crowed that she was a "pimp" making "kiddie porn" on the video sharing website where her daughter and her friends dressed in skimpy outfits and had scripted make-out sessions, alleges a bombshell lawsuit.

Rockelle’s mom, Tiffany Smith, 40, is facing a civil trial in Los Angeles later this year over shocking allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of 11 young co-stars.

Smith and her live-in boyfriend Hunter Hill, 25, who is also named in the suit, produced Rockelle’s popular "Piper Squad" channel, which raked in more than $500,000 a month while her co-stars didn't earn a penny, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney Matthew Sarelson.

The lawyer represents the parents of the alleged victims, who range in age from 10 to 16 and include two of Rockelle’s cousins.

Dark side of YouTube stardom

Smith, the CEO of Piper Rockelle Inc, and Hill, the director and cinematographer, launched the channel in 2016, which now has nearly 11 million subscribers, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Rockelle and the couple live in a $3 million hot-pink house in Sherman Oaks that once belonged to actress Bella Thorne.

The mother-manager, who called herself their "madam" often reminded the teenagers that "sex sells," encouraging the girls to "push their butts out" and dress "sluttier," the complaint alleges.

The $22 million lawsuit filed last year exposed the often disturbing YouTube child star industry.

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"When you have teenagers and preteens who are pulling in half a million a month, they are certainly going to create an atmosphere where cutthroat business practices and dealings go on," Sarelson told Fox News Digital. "There’s too much money for it not to get contentious or worse."

Some of his clients recently discovered that in Google searches, their children’s names appear to be linked to pornography websites.

"How these names are associated with porn sites is something we are aggressively looking into," he said. "My clients worship their kids, and they’re mortified by what they’re seeing, and that’s why they hired us to get to the bottom of it."

Sickening allegations of abuse

The plaintiffs allege that the stage mom soon developed a reputation as a "mean-spirited control freak" whose conduct was "often reprehensible and even illegal."

She allegedly quizzed a boy on the length of his penis, showed a girl pornography and encouraged several of the plaintiffs to "try oral sex."

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The suit claims she often touched the teenagers inappropriately, slapping their butts, rubbing their thighs and even trying to squeeze a girl’s breasts.

In her pursuit to produce more titillating content, Smith allegedly pressured a 15-year-old boy "to be more ‘sexually aggressive’ and ‘physical’ with her daughter, Piper, so the pair’s ‘crush’ connection would appear more realistic in Piper’s videos."

One of the plaintiffs allegedly witnessed Smith "grab Piper’s face and make-out with her in an attempt to teach her how to ‘kiss.’"

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One video posted to Rockelle’s YouTube page features eight teenagers engaged in a "last to stop kissing" competition with the winner supposedly earning $10,000.

It was not only in the studio where alleged exploitation and abuse flourished.

A 14-year-old girl had the misfortune of accompanying Smith to the post office.

"Ms. Smith mailed out several of Piper’s soiled training bras and panties to an unknown individual," the complaint charges. "Old men like to smell this stuff," Smith allegedly remarked.

Accusations of sabotage

Despite allegedly enduring sickening abuse from 2017 to 2021, the child actors were not compensated for the millions of dollars they helped Rockelle and Smith earn from appearances in more than 550 videos posted to the "Piper Squad" channel.

The suit, however, acknowledges that the plaintiffs were never promised money.

After nine of the members left, Hill allegedly sabotaged their individual YouTube channels by planting porn in their content and falsely flagging their videos as inappropriate.

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A 15-year-old former squad member with 1.3 million YouTube subscribers had been pulling in $22,000 a month. After he left the squad, his revenue dropped to $6,000.

The suit alleges sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unjust enrichment and other claims and is seeking $22 million in damages.

Smith filed and then dropped a $30 million countersuit against the plaintiffs last summer, claiming their parents were in a conspiracy to extort money by making up false abuse claims.

Who should protect YouTube child stars?

Entertainment lawyer Max Hass of the Parlatore Law Group said that YouTube, like other social media platforms, offers low barrier for entry into a potentially lucrative market.

"The regulation should come from the parents but, in many cases, the parents are the ones doing the exploiting," he said. "They’re obsessed with making money at all costs and this content can be monetized so easily."

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He added that it isn’t just "creepy old men" watching these videos but young girls taking cues on what to wear and how to behave.

"Why is it we have so many American parents out there who think this is OK today?" Hass asked.

Hill and Smith’s lawyers, Kenneth and Karol Ingber, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

[lost in melb.]

Yikes!