Ariana Grande may be one of the biggest names in the music industry right now, but that does not excuse her from past controversies, some of which still live in the memories of disgruntled fans.

Being such a big name in the industry, she was always bound to be caught up in many things, but nothing stands out like Grande’s infamous donut-licking incident from 2015.

This was fairly early in the musician’s career, who has since grown into a household name, accumulating many accolades along the way. But this one time, Ariana Grande managed to disappoint and anger a huge fraction of the crowd.

In the viral incident from the summer of 2015, Grande and one of her backup dancers were caught in a viral footage by TMZ where they were seen daring each other to lick the donuts, all the while saying statements like “What the f*ck is that? I hate Americans. I hate America.”

Of course, the people did not like this at all and Ariana Grande publicly apologized for this behavior later.

Ariana Grande first addressed the controversy during her appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday (September 15), where she said:

“My behavior was very offensive and I apologized…There’s no excuse or there’s nothing to justify it.”

She further elaborated on how it felt to disappoint so many of her fans.

“You have to really think about what you’re about to say and do because it’s important. It’s important to so many people”- Ariana Grande on disappointing her fans

When the person in the controversy is as big as Ariana Grande, all the actions are set to have bigger consequences. Her actions managed to rub fans the wrong way.

Grande, however, understood the consequences and tried to fix it with the interview, where she apologized and reflected on the consequences of her action.

She said in the interview:

“There’s no excuse, or there’s nothing to justify it. But I think as human beings, we all say and do things that we don’t mean at all sometimes….We have to learn for it. That’s part of our process. We have to learn from our mistakes. That’s how we grow.”

She was then asked what she had learned from this event and how it affected her, to which the singer replied:

“What it feels like to disappoint so many people who love and believe in you, and that’s an excruciating feeling…You have to remember your words, your actions have ramifications, and you have to really think about what you’re about to say and do, because it’s important. It’s important to so many people.”

Since this incident, nothing of this magnitude happened and she has been a firm fan favorite for years now. Of course, there were many things that went viral later, but she rarely faced a backlash from her own fans.

As of now, Ariana Grande is getting ready to appear on the big screens with the two-part adaptation of Wicked, whose first half has reportedly started filming. Grande plays the role of Glinda Upland in the adaptation.

The film is set to release on November 27, 2024, with the second half slated for a premiere in December 2025.