How do you feel about the current scandals revolving Ariana Grande (profiting off asian/black/lesbian aesthetic for clout, befriending Piers Morgan and defending him, etc.)??? bc even tho i really enjoy her music and (as much as I hate «cancelling» artists) I really feel uncomfortable supporting her rn, I feel like she needs to get her act together
the current ariana grande scandal is actually a really good study in the impact privilege has on morality. because I genuinely don’t think ariana grande is doing any of this intentionally to hurt, or profit, or appropriate, but rather that she doesn’t understand why it’s being read as offensive behaviour.
people from a privileged background/situation, don’t experience first-hand racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. ariana grande is wealthy, talented, beautiful and yes, she is a white girl. like other female celebrities, she has been subject to sexism (as the majority of women are, and that does include celebrities). however, she hasn’t experienced anything else. a black woman knows what it’s like to experience racism and sexism, as a black woman, as an asian woman knows the same in her situation, a lesbian, a trans woman or man, etc. but a white, cishet woman, won’t understand the rest.
so the problem w/ this, is that she’s likely unaware of how and why her actions are being read as “problematic”. ariana grande sitting down and having an open conversation w/ piers morgan isn’t “problematic” to her, because she has that opportunity. but do you think a black woman, asian, latina, trans or any other member of the LGBT community could sit down and have a conversation w/ piers morgan and not be subjected to discrimination based on those characteristics? of course, not. from what I’ve seen of her twitter conversations, she seems to think that she was having an “open” conversation w/ him; what she fails to recognize is that the only reason she can even have an “open” conversation w/ him, is because she’s white, wealthy, famous, etc. this is why a lot of people (including her fans) are unhappy.
ariana grande doesn’t think her deep tan is racist, because to her, it’s probably just a tan. but to any woman of colour who’s ever been hit w/ a slur or gone to the store to find there’s no foundation in her shade or felt ugly for her skin tone, because the world made it obvious, “she’s not in style” (amongst other, far worse situations)…it feels like a slap in the face, that a white woman is “beautiful” for wearing that same colour w/o receiving all the discrimination that comes w/ it.
any asian girl that’s ever been told to “go back to where you came from!” for speaking chinese, korean, japanese, etc. in public, might not see ariana’s kanji tattoo as something cute and trendy, but just another reminder that she can’t be proud of her own ethnicity, culture, etc. in public…but a white girl sure can and when a white girl does it, it’s cool!
and maybe kissing a girl in a music video is cheeky and taboo and fun for ariana grande, but for a lesbian who’s been thrown out of the house by her parents and called homophobic slurs all throughout high school and felt all male eyes on her, the very first time she kissed a girl at a bar…a straight girl kissing another girl for fun, isn’t cheeky and cute fun, but serves as a reminder that to other people, her sexuality is nothing but an “aesthetic” and a joke.
so I don’t think ariana grande is purposely participating in any “problematic” behaviour; rather she lacks an understanding of it. she’s not a woman of colour. she doesn’t know what it’s like to experience racism. she’s not LGBT. she doesn’t know what it’s like to experience lesbophobia or transphobia. and quite honestly, I think a lot of this is just reckless behaviour, as the result of PTSD. maybe she does understand why a lot of what she’s doing is problematic, but she doesn’t realize the severity.
though ariana grande is privileged in wealth; she’s cishet and white, she has suffered from a great deal of trauma: her concert was bombed, her ex-boyfriend/best-friend OD’d, both of which she was severely harassed and berated for. she likely suffers from a lot of suvivor’s guilt. after manchester, she threw a benefit concert. after mac miller’s death, she started all this weird, reckless behaviour. that isn’t an excuse for any of it, but rather, an explanation for her actions. I don’t think she’s thinking at all about the repercussions.
the best thing that could happen for her right now, is for someone to sit her down and just have an honest conversation about all of this. because ariana grande isn’t a god-honest racist person. she’s a rich white popstar, who’s made a bunch of weird, problematic choices. the worst thing anyone can do for her right now is continue to call her “racist, transphobic, homophobic,” etc. because there’s a major distinction between a person who is racist, transphobic, homophobic, and a person who’s done something racist, transphobic, homophobic. up until…a few months ago? the most problematic thing ariana grande has done, was licking a donut and saying “I hate america”. this is all really new.
if she had consistently been doing things like this for years upon years, I’d say, yeah. maybe she should be “cancelled”. but you have to take into account all of the behaviour, events leading up to it, her mental health situation, etc. I mean, the fact her ex-boyfriend died, she was harassed for months and blamed for it, then almost immediately she dumped her fiancé, basically scrapped her last album and made a new one filled w/ all these materialistic songs and problematic music videos, is probably a red flag enough that she’s acting on impulsive instead of taking into account how her actions may be perceived.
but blaming her and calling her things like “racist, transphobic, homophobic”, isn’t wise. and the reason is that “cancel culture” doesn’t encourage change, it encourages “problematic” people, not to work on themselves or apologize for their actions, but to just…drop off the face of the earth (and more than often, remain static). ariana grande will only continue to be defensive and feel bad for herself if people refuse to give her room to grow. how would you feel if someone hit you w/ “you’re racist” versus “hey, that thing you just did was actually pretty racially insensitive”? the first one brings out “defence mode”, while the second has the potential to spark a conversation. even the fact in itself that ariana is upset about being called “racist” is a HUGE sign that she’s capable of change. if she weren’t, she wouldn’t be so defensive. true racists won’t feel remorse of any kind at all.
and none of this isn’t to say nobody has the right to feel outraged or offended by her behaviour. a lot of it makes me feel, EH, not great…even as a long-time fan of hers. my hope for ariana, is that she starts paying closer attention to her own actions, how they’re perceived, why they’re offensive and how she’s hurt people and that she’ll make a conscious effort to apologize and improve.