Entertainment

Is Ariana Grande Just Overcompensating Now?

Remember that one time when one of our nation's most cherished figures, Ariana Grande, licked a bunch of doughnuts and said she hated Americans and America and it happened to all be caught on camera and everybody saw it? Yeah, well, so do Grande and her team apparently, because she is Grande is overcompensating hard with the whole patriotic thing now, as apparent in this new video of her recent concert in Tampa.

To catch you up, in case you missed Grande's tongue-to-pastry moment, the "Problem" singer was visiting a donut shop called Wolfee Doughnuts in Lake Elsinore, CA with her rumored boyfriend backup dancer Ricky Alvarez when she took a break from touching tongues with him and decided to swap some spit with a jelly-filled doughnut. Specifically, a few fresh, unsold doughnuts on an unattended tray on the counter. Then, when a new tray was put on the counter, Grande is heard saying, "What the f**k is that? I hate Americans. I hate America." OK — doesn't make any sense in (or out of) context, but regardless, people were understandably angered by her actions and comments.

Following the video's release, Grande and her team issued an apology — or really more of a statement — that explained away her behavior, but it doesn't seem to have worked, because Grande is clearly still working to get ahead of this thing. Or at least, I'm pretty sure that was what was behind the bizarre show of patriotism in evidence at Grande's show in Tampa, FL on Jul. 16, which is part of her Honeymoon Tour. Up onstage in her traditional garb of sexy diaper and nothing else, Grande screamed out to the crowd:

I'm so grateful to be here in Tampa. And I'm so so grateful to be here in the U.S.A., the greatest country in the world! I love you guys so much!

Uh-huh. While I guess her statement could be genuine, I gotta say, I have my decoder ring right here, and when you put that little blurb through, it comes out as, "I really hope you forget that dumb thing I said back there when I was licking doughnuts! U-S-A! U-S-A!" I suspect Grande will have to do more than this to wipe our brains clean of that video, but who knows — maybe people are buying what she's selling. Take a look at the video and see what you think.

Yeah, OK then.