YouTube star’s mother settles with teens who sued her

Piper Rockelle, on the left; Tiffany Smith, on the right; former members of the Piper Squad, inset

Left: HOLLYWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 21: Piper Rockelle attends the 2nd Annual Toys For Tots Toy Drive held at The Industry Loft Space on November 21, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images). Right: Tiffany Smith (Piper Rockelle/YouTube). Inset: Former members of the Piper Squad (Getty Images).

A group of teenagers have settled a lawsuit with the mother of a popular YouTube star over allegations of sexual abuse and retaliation, according to an attorney representing them.

In January 2022, the teens sued Tiffany Smith, 41, the mother of online phenom Piper Rockelle, in Los Angeles County District Court, alleging numerous counts of sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and that she then tried to use their YouTube destroy your career. they stopped working with her daughter.

Each of the eleven accusers had previously been members of the eponymous “Piper Squad,” a group dedicated to creating several short videos that appeared on Rockelle’s YouTube channel.

In a statement posted to

The civil lawsuit alleged that Smith uttered a parade of heinous things while supervising her daughter’s content creation machine.

On one occasion, Smith allegedly commented on the size of a girl’s breasts. Another time she allegedly called two boys “horny bastards” while holding hands with two girls. And, in one particularly disturbing claim, she allegedly explained that she sent her daughter’s dirty underwear to someone because “old men like to smell this stuff.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Smith bragged about walking a fine line between sexualized content and child exploitation — claiming to be YouTube’s “madam” or “pimp” and even saying she “makes child porn.”

“The allegations are deeply disturbing,” Sarelson told Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy last year. Five of the children make a claim for actual battery in some way, but all eleven children have similar allegations of abuse – comments. “It’s important to understand what these videos are about. These are kids who have been scripted to kind of have fake boyfriends and fake girlfriends and hang out with these other kids. So some of the allegations in this case certainly included a lot of inappropriate language and commentary about my clients’ genitals, their sexual history or activity – which was essentially non-existent because these are young children who are only nine years old. .”

The lawsuit also alleges that Smith showed one of the children a popular pornography website. In one case, Rockelle’s mother allegedly discussed sex toys with a group of teenagers — and even asked one boy if his testicles had fallen.

One girl alleged that Smith rubbed her exposed thighs and moved her hand to her vagina, punched her repeatedly and used her finger to poke her in the back over her clothing.

After the plaintiffs left the show, Smith, Rockelle and Smith’s live-in boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who directed many of the videos, allegedly went after their own YouTube channels, according to the lawsuit.

“My childhood was taken away at a very young age because of Tiffany Rockelle,” one of the accusers said in a statement to Law&Crime. “This lawsuit was never about money – it was to make sure she couldn’t do to another child what she did to me.”

Each of the plaintiffs initially sought $2 million in damages.

Due to the confidential terms of the agreement, the public may never know what each of the teens received in the settlement.

“We brought this lawsuit not to change the industry, but to raise awareness that predators can be found in every field,” said Angela Sharbino, a parent of one of the plaintiffs. “This was about holding accountable the person who harmed our children.”

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs described a harmful work environment in which they were coerced into inappropriate content and subjected to psychological abuse. The lawsuit alleges that Smith, in particular, led the children to believe that their self-worth was tied to their performance — while discouraging independence and dissent.

“I want to publicly praise these eleven children. They are smart and brave,” Sarelson said. “What they experienced was grotesque. I look forward to seeing them blossom as young adults.”

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