Licking doughnuts and stealing boyfriends: All of Ariana Grande’s biggest controversies

Being famous equates to likely saying something stupid or being called out in the public eye, which has happened to Ariana Grande a fair few times as she has had her fair share of controversies and scandals.

There has been a lot of speculation around her dating life as many of her new romances have appeared to have just been in relationships. Then, she has faced backlash for saying some stuff such as “I hate America” and “Jeffrey Dahmer is fascinating” – she does have a habit of saying the wrong thing without realising.

Some of her controversies date back to as early as 2014 when Ariana Grande was just 22 years old but the popstar seems to debunk rumours quicker nowadays. Or, she writes songs that just say the boy is mine – enough said. So, here is a list of the main Ariana Grande controversies:

She allegedly said she wants her fans to ‘die’

Back in 2014, according to New York Daily News, at a Manhattan radio station an insider claimed Ariana was rude about her fans. They said: “She did autographs and pics and was all smiles until she got into the elevator, and as soon as the doors shut, she said, ‘I hope they all f**king die’.”

Of course, her rep team shut this rumour down to Huffington Post as they told them: “Ariana loves her fans!” Did someone forget her morning coffee?

When she licked the donut and said ‘I hate America’

To put it simply, in 2015 Ariana Grande walked into a donut shop, picked up a donut, licked it, put it back and said: “What the f*ck is that? I hate Americans. I hate America,” which was captured on TMZ reports.  She then went on Good Morning America at 8.30am to apologise for licking the doughnut. God, I would hate to be famous.

However, it never was quite explained why she did it. Apparently, she was trying to comment on the US obesity rates in a roundabout, popstar way. Moral of the story is I would be wary of all doughnuts on the shelf.

Demanding photos to be deleted

She’s got 99 problems and photos of her right side may be one. Have you ever seen a photo of Ariana Grande on her right side? That may be due to reports that she had a long demanding list for photographers. This is an unconfirmed rumour but we’ve all been that friend that demands the Instagram photo to be deleted – so maybe everyone can be a diva sometimes.

Apparently she was paid more than co-star Jeanette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy from Nickelodeon show Sam & Cat claimed that Ariana Grande was being paid more whilst the show was on air. The former TV besties were slyly shading each other on social media about it, with Ariana writing on Facebook: “Jennette and I agreed upfront that we would be treated equally on this show in all regards (as we should be, considering we each work just as hard as the other on this show).

“The rumors circulating about our contracts and our salary not being equal are absolutely ridiculous and false. I don’t know who’s putting these idiotic quotes out there but I thought I’d straighten it out and try to end this nonsense.”

Naya Rivera found Ariana Grande with her boyfriend

The late Naya Rivera wrote in her memoir a reference to a “Schmariana Schmande” that she found with her ex-boyfriend Big Sean, something which Ariana has never confirmed nor denied. She could of made the anagram slightly less obvious and this only fuelled rumours later on that Ariana Grande was out to steal your man.

She was accused of cultural appropriation

An online debate was sparked about Ariana using a “blacccent”, imitating a black accent and using Japanese culture as an aesthetic for her album but Ariana has never repsonded. This caused the debate about cultural appropriation which other artists such as Jesy Nelson have been accused of.

The Ethan Slater drama

Ariana Grande was quickly linked to her co-star Ethan Slater on the set of Wicked in 2023, who supposedly was just out of a relationship. Then, the ex-wife of Ethan told Page Six that Ariana Grande is “not a girls girl.” It’s a very messy timeline and she was branded as a homewrecker several times on the internet. She’s probably blasting yes, and? as I type. Ariana has never explicitly said anything in response to the claims.

Saying her dream dinner guest is Jeffrey Dahmer

On Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed last week, Ariana Grande said: “I was infatuated with serial killers when I was younger.” She has since received backlash for claiming Jeffrey Dahmer was her dream dinner guest at a past Q&A for younger fans. The internet has said this is such a bizarre comment to make when in an influential position. Then again, everyone has a true crime obsession at some point. Ariana is yet to respond to the backlash she is receiving for this comment. 

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• Ariana Grande is getting dragged for saying her dream dinner date is Jeffrey Dahmer

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• Dan Schneider’s team has released a statement following Jennette McCurdy’s memoir

Featured images via CBS, ABC and YouTube.