Ariana Grande Addressed Claims She's Exploiting The LGBTQ Community In A Thoughtful Way
Ariana Grande is, by far, one of the LGBTQ community’s most outspoken allies. She seems to advocate for them every chance she gets and is incredibly proud to do so. Given how supportive Grande is of the LGBTQ community, you can probably imagine how excited she was to announce that she would be headlining Manchester Pride in August 2019. Unfortunately, that announcement was met with some backlash, with critics suggesting that Grande was exploiting the LGBTQ community by taking the gig. But the singer wasn’t standing for it. Ariana Grande’s response to claims she’s exploiting the LGBTQ community was heartfelt and likely cleared things up for her fans.
Grande announced that she would be headlining Manchester Pride on Twitter on Monday, Feb. 25, with a tweet that read, “manchester babes, i’m so thrilled to be headlining pride. my heart. i cant wait to see u and i love u so so much.”
While most fans celebrated the fact that their fave would be headlining the show, there were a few fans who had questions. One fan in particular caught Grande’s eye.
“Idk .... ariana headlining pride when she’s straight (as far as we’re all aware) .... and doubling the price of tickets .... kinda smells like exploitation of the lgbt community to me,” the fan wrote on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, Grande responded to the fan with a lengthy and heartfelt note about the circumstances surrounding Manchester Pride.
“Hi my love,” Grande wrote. “I have nothing to do with ticket pricing — manchester pride sets those rates, and they’re mostly out of my control.”
The 25-year-old then went on to talk about how much the LGBTQ community means to her.
“The lgbtq community has been so special to me and supportive throughout my career. the relationships i have with lgbtq fans, friends, and family make me so happy. i want to celebrate and support this community regardless of my identity or how people label me. and also i wanna visit a city that means so much to me,” Grande continued.
Grande has been a long-time supporter of the LGBTQ community, which makes sense because her brother, Frankie Grande, is openly gay and, thus, part of the community himself. So, Grande explained in her note to the fan how important LGBTQ representation is to her. She also decided to give the fan a history lesson on straight allies performing for LGBTQ audiences.
“Lgbtq representation is incredibly important, and i’m always proud to share that stage with lgbtq artists!” she wrote. “Over the years, pride events have been headlined by performers and artists of all sexual orientations and genders, including straight allies like cher and kylie minogue. i do think there’s room for us to talk about these issues without equating a performance *for* an lgbtq audience with exploitation of the lgbtq community.”
That’s not all Grande had to say, though. She then went on to validate what the fan initially said and explained that she respected their perception of the situation.
“If you truly feel like i didn’t deserve to be offered this spot, i respect that. but i did accept it excitedly and gratefully,” she said. “I’m not claiming to be the hero of the lgbtq rights movement — i just wanna put on a show that makes my lgbtq fans feel special and celebrated and supported. that’s all i wanna do.”
Check out her whole message below:
So, that clears everything up, for sure! It’s great to see Grande being so supportive of the LGBTQ community and also engaging in this kind of discourse with fans. It just goes to show that Grande is committed to all her fans regardless of how they perceive her or her creative intentions.
