Tiffany Smith: Mother of Youtuber Piper Rockelle, 15, sued by 11 children for $22 million over sexual abuse
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The mother of YouTube star Piper Rockelle, 15, is being sued by nearly a dozen teens who allege she physically, emotionally, verbally, and sexually abused them, including sending her own daughter's underwear to a male fan to "sniff it." 11 kids who were formerly members of the YouTuber's 'Piper Squad' filed a lawsuit against Piper's mother, Tiffany Smith, 41, in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on Wednesday, April 12, claiming she made sexual advances and urged the minors to try oral sex, as well as used them for financial exploitation, according to court documents.
In the bombshell lawsuit, the teen star's mom and her boyfriend Hunter Hill are facing scores of allegations stating the pair even tried to sabotage the plaintiff's YouTube channels after they stopped collaborating with Piper, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, the cost of attorney fees, and any other just relief allowed under California law.
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Who is YouTuber Piper Rockelle?
Piper is a 15-year-old Youtube star whose channel has a massive 10 million subscribers, and her net worth is somewhere around $3 million. The channel has come under fury for its content for years from internet critics, including pop singer Pink, who accused the teen's parents of exploiting her in August after Piper posted YouTube videos and Instagram photos posing in a bikini. Smith, who allegedly boasted saying she "makes kiddie porn," encouraged the minors to be "sexy" and subjected them to "harassment, molestation, and abuse," according to the complaint.
The lawsuit was filed by child stars Sawyer Sharbino, Donlad Dougher, Corrine Joy, Connor Cain, Symonne Harrison, Ayden Mekus, Hayden Haas, Walker Bryant, Sophia Fergi, Claire Rocksmith, and Reese Rocksmith, who are seeking $2 million from Smith and her boyfriend, Hill.
Tiffany Smith's extremely derogatory abuse toward children
In the nearly 150-page complaint, the group of teenagers called the self-proclaimed ‘Madam of YouTube’ a "mean-spirited control freak" who would make increasingly disturbing comments about their private parts, touch their buttocks, and encourage them to wear revealing clothes to accentuate "bulges." Haas was allegedly asked by Smith whether his "balls have dropped yet" and "how long is it [referring to his penis]?" In a similar incident, the teen mom told Fergi that she "had no boobs" and that she "was so flat." One of the 11 defendants claimed Smith mailed her own teenage daughter’s "soiled training bras and panties" to an unknown man and said, "old men like to smell this stuff."
The YouTuber's mom would also encourage boys to take off their shirts, saying, "sex sells" and would question girls if they "knew what a dildo was for." The group claimed the twisted mom would assume an alter-ego as "Frank the Pug" or "Lenny the Dead Cat" and shout out explicit phrases to the children. "I’m going to f**k you up the a**," and "I’m going to touch you in your sleep" were both allegedly said while Smith was using her alter-ego. At one point, she referred to a Squad member’s penis as "Dwayne the Rock Hard Johnson."
Smith and Hill, her boyfriend, who was the director and editor of Piper's YouTube account, are also accused of not paying the child stars for their appearances in hundreds of videos for Piper's YouTube channel. Ashley Anne-Rock Smith, whose daughters Claire and Reese are both plaintiffs and are cousins with Piper, said she wants her children to feel "peace" again. "I just want peace back with my kids," said Rock Smith in an interview with NBC. The mom alleged she wants action taken on YouTube’s policies regarding children and their accounts. "I want all predators who hurt young kids to be brought to justice," Rock Smith said. "I also hope we move the needle on these platforms that are allowing this." "As children, they don’t understand it, sometimes it goes over their heads," Steevy Areeco, the mother of Corinne, told NBC. "But now they’re older and they’re starting to understand the trauma that was caused, the things that were said to them, these fake crushes. We want there to be protections for the children," Areeco said.